JP2020123790A - Communication system, failure detection method, information processing terminal and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a communication system in which an information processing device can detect occurrence of a failure in a network.SOLUTION: In a communication system 100 in which an information processing terminal 90 and an information processing device 30 that have two or more communication means communicate with each other via a network, the information processing terminal includes a connection failure detector 81 for detecting that the connection to the network becomes impossible, a nearby wireless terminal searcher 82 for wirelessly searching for another information processing terminal in the vicinity, and a nearby wireless terminal relay unit 83 transmitting, when the connection failure detector detects that the connection to the network becomes impossible, to the another information processing terminal searched by the nearby wireless terminal searcher, diagnosis information including the fact that connection to the network becomes impossible, and causing the other information processing device to relay the diagnosis information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to a communication system, a failure detection method, an information processing terminal and a program.

There is a system in which an information processing terminal receives information from an information processing device on a network and provides a service to a user. For example, information is simply displayed, the information processing terminal receives an operation from a user and transmits it to the information processing apparatus, or the information processing apparatus controls the information processing terminal.

There are wireless communication systems such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (registered trademark) as a network, but the network may fail for some reason. If the information processing terminal cannot communicate with the information processing device, it becomes difficult to continue the service. There is a mechanism on the network side and the information processing terminal side that automatically recovers when connection is temporarily unavailable, but there are cases where recovery is difficult without the intervention of an administrator, etc. Until then, the service will be stopped. Also, if the recovery cannot be done automatically, there is no way for the administrator to know the fact that it could not be recovered, and in the end, there is no choice but to carry out recovery work on site.

A technique for coping with such a network failure has been devised (for example, refer to Patent Document 1). Patent Document 1 discloses a method of acquiring a communicable other-apparatus network and transferring data in order to improve network robustness (prevention of influence of disturbance) and reliability of data transfer.

However, in the conventional technology, the information processing apparatus side may not be able to detect that the information processing terminal cannot connect to the network. That is, even if the information processing terminal wants to notify that the information processing terminal cannot connect to the network, the network is disconnected.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a communication system in which an information processing apparatus can detect a failure in a network.

In view of the above problems, the present invention is a communication system in which an information processing terminal having two or more communication means and an information processing device communicate via a network,
The information processing terminal, a connection failure detection unit that detects that it can no longer connect to the network, a nearby wireless terminal search unit that wirelessly searches for another information processing terminal in the vicinity, and the connection failure detection unit When it is detected that the network cannot be connected, the diagnostic information including the fact that the network cannot be connected is transmitted to the other information processing terminal searched by the neighboring wireless terminal search unit, and the diagnostic information is stored as the diagnostic information. And a nearby wireless terminal relay unit for relaying to the information processing device.

It is possible to provide a communication system in which an information processing device can detect a failure in a network.

It is an example of a diagram for explaining the outline of the overall operation of the communication system. It is a figure explaining the outline of operation|movement of a communication system at the time of network failure occurrence. It is an example of a system configuration diagram of a communication system. It is an example of a hardware configuration diagram of a conference management server. It is an example of a hardware configuration diagram of a conference room terminal. It is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of a reservation management server, a chat server, a conference management server, and a registration terminal in block form. It is an example of the functional block diagram which shows the function of a terminal device and a conference room terminal in block form. It is an example of a functional block diagram showing the function of the initial setting unit in block form. It is an example of a functional block diagram showing a function of a failure response unit in a block form. It is a figure which shows an example of the setting screen which a registration terminal displays. It is a figure which shows an example of the setting screen on which the image code was superimposed and displayed. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen which the terminal application of a conference room terminal displays. It is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating a procedure of initial setting of the conference room terminal in the communication system. It is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating a process until a conference room terminal acquires reservation information. It is an example of a sequence diagram showing a process performed by the conference room terminal when a network failure occurs. It is a figure which shows an example of the content of diagnostic information. It is an example of a sequence diagram showing a procedure in which the registration terminal executes the operation information of the remote operation. It is a figure which shows an example of the operation information of remote operation. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen which a conference room terminal displays.

Hereinafter, a communication system and a failure detection method performed by the communication system will be described as an example of a mode for carrying out the present invention with reference to the drawings.

<Outline of communication system>
First, the outline of the communication system will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is an example of a diagram for explaining the outline of the overall operation of the communication system 100.

A. The reservation person operates his/her terminal device 60 to communicate with the reservation management server 20 and reserves the conference room. The reservation management server 20 is a general-purpose cloud service (Office 365, G Suite (both are registered trademarks), etc.), but the conference room of an organization such as a company to which the reservation person belongs is registered.

B. The conference management server 30 is a server that controls the entire communication system 100 based on the reservation status of the conference room. Since the conference management server 30 appropriately communicates with the reservation management server 20 to acquire the reservation information, the reservation management server 20 synchronizes the reservation information with the reservation management server 20.

C. An administrator or the like on the organization side who uses the communication system 100 can operate the registration terminal 50 to register a user in the conference management server 30 and perform various settings. Registering a user means registering an ID, an e-mail address, or the like that identifies an individual user of the communication system 100 in the conference management server 30. As an example, it refers to registering a user who is a target of various notifications using the chat server 10 (slack, Line, Microsoft Teams (all are registered trademarks), etc.). Further, since the notification is given via the bot that transmits a message as the conference management server 30, the bot provided by the chat server is also registered. A bot is an interface such as various notifications and input reception as an agent of a communication system and a conference management server on each chat application (terminal application of a chat system) in a terminal such as a smartphone owned by each user. It is a program provided to the user. The bot is a program on the chat server 10, and performs notification, input reception, various guidance, etc. while communicating with a user (user of the communication system) as a virtual chat partner. As an example, the communication system notifies the user of a reminder of the reservation information, and accepts the user's input such as attendance or non-attendance of the conference for the reminder as a chat, which serves as a system window. Various settings include registration of the conference room terminal 90, setting of reminding timing, and the like.

D. The meeting management server 30 reminds the reservation person to hold the meeting at a certain time before the start time of the meeting in the reservation information. This suppresses empty reservations for the conference room. Further, the conference management server 30 notifies the user of the invitation code (invitation to the group) as necessary. Upon receiving the remind, the conference reservation person saves the information (conference identification information) for checking into the conference room in the terminal device 60. Check-in is the input of a check-in instruction to be used by the user in the conference room, and the conference management server receives the information indicating the check-in in response to the check-in instruction, and sets the start flag indicating the start of use of the predetermined conference room. It is the process of standing up.

E. A conference room terminal 90 is arranged in each of the conference rooms 6, and the conference room terminal 90 downloads the reservation information of the conference regularly held in this conference room. The conference room terminal 90 can display the schedule of the current day or the latest conference and the like so that the participants of the conference can confirm the schedule. A little before the start time of the meeting, the reservation person of the meeting room goes to the meeting room 6 and checks in. For example, the conference identification information is input to the conference room terminal 90, or the terminal device 60 is held over the conference room terminal 90 (the conference identification information is read, communication is performed, check-in displayed by the terminal application 90a of the conference room terminal 90). The user presses the button (start button).

F. Since the conference room terminal 90 transmits a check-in request to the conference management server 30, if the conference identification information can be authenticated, the conference room server 90 receives a response from the conference management server 30 that the check-in has been successful. The conference room terminal 90 displays that it is in use (during a conference). When the use start notification notifying the check-in cannot be confirmed by the fixed time with respect to the start time of the conference, the conference management server 30 cancels the reservation of the conference room 6 (cancel the reservation information when the conference room is not used for a predetermined time). The canceled status is transmitted to the conference room terminal 90 as the status included in the reservation information. In this case, since the conference room terminal 90 displays that the room is empty, any user can use the conference room 6.

G. The conference room terminal 90 controls the electronic device 70 in response to a request from the conference management server 30. For example, the power is turned on at the conference start time and turned off at the conference end time. By doing so, it is possible to improve the convenience when the participants of the conference operate the electronic device 70.

H. When the electronic device 70 has a video conference function, for example, the electronic device 70 can communicate with an electronic device (a video conference terminal 70x or the like) at the other base 4 to hold a conference with the other base. The PC 70y on which the application operates can also communicate with the electronic device 70. The reservation information includes destination information (destination communication ID) indicating the other base 4 in advance, and the electronic device 70 can automatically communicate with the video conference terminal 70x and the PC 70y.

I. When the reservation person finishes the conference, he/she presses the button of the conference room terminal 90 to check out, so that the conference room terminal 90 displays the next reservation situation. This allows any user to know the reservation status of the conference room.

<Outline of configuration>
FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the outline of the operation of the communication system 100 when a network failure occurs. First, the conference room terminal 90A is arranged in the conference room A, and the conference room terminal 90B is arranged in the conference room B. The conference room terminals 90A and 90B have two types of communication means. For example, Bluetooth (registered trademark) and Wi-Fi are assumed, but it is sufficient if there are two or more communication means capable of connecting to a network and performing short-distance communication. Hereinafter, Wi-Fi will be referred to as a first communication means, and Bluetooth (registered trademark) will be referred to as a second communication means.

In FIG. 2A, the conference room terminals 90A and 90B separately communicate with the conference management server 30 via the network using the first communication means. In this state, a failure occurred in the network connected by the first communication means, and the conference room terminal 90A could not communicate with the conference management server 30.

In this case, the conference room terminal 90A starts communication with the conference room terminal 90B by the second communication means, as shown in FIG. The conference room terminal 90B receives diagnostic information, which will be described later, from the conference room terminal 90A by the second communication means, and transmits it to the conference management server 30 instead of the conference room terminal 90A. As a result, the conference management server 30 can detect that a failure has occurred in the network.

The conference room terminal 90B transmits the remote operation information received from the conference management server 30 to the conference room terminal 90A by the second communication means. The conference room terminal 90A can execute the operation information and connect to the network.

Therefore, when one of the conference room terminals 90A and 90B cannot communicate with the information processing device due to the network failure, the communication function of the other conference room terminals 90A and 90B can be utilized to provide the service.

<About terms>
A resource is a resource. The conference room and equipment, devices, people (reception), and mechanisms that can be used in the conference room can be resources. Equipment that is hard to move among resources is called equipment. In this embodiment, for convenience of description, the term conference room is used as an example of a resource.

Initial setting means that a person performs some setting so that the device can exhibit at least the minimum functions. For example, it is a setting regarding communication. The information for the necessary communication is the information set by the initial setting.

The reservation person is the person who has reserved the conference room, and the participants are participants in the conference. The reservation person is often included in the participants, but need not be included. In some cases, the work performed by the reservation person in this embodiment may be performed by the participant. Collectively, those who use the conference room are simply called users.

In order for the conference room terminal 90 to start communication with the conference management server 30, it is necessary for the conference room terminal 90 to store the communication setting information by the initial setting of the administrator. This starts requesting reservation information on a regular basis, but whether the request information can be acquired depends on the setting of the conference management server 30.

When the later-described management start flag of the conference management server 30 is set to True, the conference management server 30 is ready to manage the conference room. When the management start flag is True and the request for reservation information is received from the meeting room terminal 90, the meeting management server 30 starts managing the meeting room. As a result, when the conference room terminal 90 makes a request, transmission of reservation information is started.

When the conference room terminal 90 acquires the reservation information from the conference management server 30, the conference room terminal 90 starts cooperation with the conference management server 30. Therefore, the start of cooperation and the start of management are triggered by related processes of requesting reservation information and transmitting reservation information.

The following processing is performed by the start of cooperation or the start of management.
・Display reservation information (check-in, check-out, extension, use now)
・Control of electronic devices linked to check-in and check-out ・Automatic cancellation of reservations In addition, "extension" means that participants extend the reservation beyond the end time of the reservation in the conference room, "use now". Means that any user uses an empty conference room without making a reservation.

<System configuration example>
FIG. 3 is an example of a system configuration diagram of the communication system 100. The communication system 100 can be mainly divided into an external network N2 and an internal network N1. The in-house network N1 is a network inside the firewall 73, and the outside network N2 is a network such as the Internet through which an unspecified number of communications are transmitted.

A reservation management server 20, a conference management server 30, and one or more chat servers 10 are connected to the external network N2, and each server can communicate as necessary. The terminal device 60 operated by the participants of the conference may be connected to the external network N2 as necessary.

The reservation management server 20 is realized by one or more information processing devices (computer systems) equipped with a general server OS and the like. A system regarding reservation of facilities provided by the reservation management server 20 is called a reservation management system. The reservation management server 20 has a calendar system and provides a web application for managing various schedules. Specifically, for example, it has the following functions.
・Reservation can be accepted at any time and from anywhere, and reservations can be confirmed by any person ・Notify by e-mail at a set date and time, such as 30 minutes before the appointment ・One person manages the schedule with multiple calendars (work, home, etc.) Yes-Share the calendar with people in the same group. The reservation management server 20 manages users with accounts. An account is a user's right to use the service. On many systems users log in to the system using an account. Therefore, the account has a function of the system to uniquely identify the user (a function of identification information). In this embodiment, the reservation management server 20 transmits the reservation information of the account (domain) registered in advance to the conference management server 30. Alternatively, the conference management server 30 can obtain the reservation information of the conference room 6 from the reservation management server 20 by designating the account of the reservation management server 20 and requesting the reservation information from the conference management server 30. The account may be information that can uniquely identify the user, such as e-mail, ID, and telephone number.

In the present embodiment, it is the reservation of the conference room 6 that is managed as the schedule, but the reservation management server 20 is not limited to the conference room 6 and can manage various schedules. In addition to the conference room 6, various electronic equipment rentals, parking lot reservations, rental offices, rental studios, rental cycles, rental cars, accommodation facilities such as hotels, rental space such as entertainment venues and lockers, etc. Available for booking.

As the reservation management system, G Suite (registered trademark), Office365 (registered trademark), and the like are known, but any reservation management system having a function described in this embodiment may be used.

Further, in the present embodiment, information regarding the conference room 6 of the in-house network N1 is registered in advance in the reservation management server 20. That is, the reservation management server 20 according to the meeting room name, the meeting room ID, the reservation available time, the capacity of each meeting room 6, the reservation unit, etc. of each meeting room 6 in the company's internal network using the communication system 100. The Web application is customized. Therefore, the conference room 6 of the company using the communication system 100 is linked with the reservation information.

The chat server 10 can be realized by one or more information processing devices (computer systems) equipped with a general server OS or the like. A chat system is a real-time sharing system provided by the chat server 10 for information such as text, voice, and video among a plurality of users. The chat server 10 notifies the terminal device 60 of information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6. In this embodiment, a plurality of chat servers 10 having different management entities may be included.

The shared information includes images, sounds, etc. and is not limited to text, but in the present embodiment, text is mainly used for notification for convenience of description. For example, the chat system may provide voice call functionality between groups. The voice call may be 1:1 or 1:N (≧2). Therefore, in the present embodiment, when the chat system notifies the information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6, not only the text display but also the voice message output may be performed. As chat systems, LINE (registered trademark; hereinafter omitted), slack, Microsoft Teams (registered trademark, hereinafter omitted), etc. are known, but bots (predetermined processing Any chat system that can notify one or more users from the program to be executed) may be used.

The chat server 10 also manages the user with an account (different from the account of the reservation management server 20), but in principle, the conference management server 30 need not be aware of the account of the chat server 10. However, the conference management server 30 can specify and notify any account of the chat server 10.

The conference management server 30 can be realized by one or more information processing devices (an information processing device in the claims) equipped with a general server OS or the like. The conference management server 30 acquires the reservation information of the conference room 6 from the reservation management server 20 as a process related to the external network N2, acquires the prospective participants set in the reservation information, and schedules the prospective participants at the set timing. The notification is transmitted to the group (or individual person such as a reservation person) of the chat server 10 associated with. In addition, as processing regarding the in-house network N1, management of check-in and check-out to the conference room 6 and control of the power supply of the electronic device 70 based on the reservation information of the conference room 6 acquired from the reservation management server 20 are performed. To do.

The in-house network N1 has a conference room 6, a work place 101 for prospective participants, a work place 102 for managers, and the like, and prospective participants can access the outside network N2 from various places via the in-house network N1. The in-house network N1 is, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network). The conference room 6, the prospective participant's work place 101, and the manager's work place 102 are not necessarily LANs in the same company.

A conference room terminal 90 and an electronic device 70 are arranged in the conference room 6. The conference room terminal 90 and the electronic device 70 can communicate with each other through a small LAN or a dedicated line. The electronic device can be connected to the in-house network N1 and the outside network N2 without passing through the conference room terminal 90. The conference room terminal 90 and the electronic device 70 may communicate with each other wirelessly or by wire. Since the in-house network N1 is inside the firewall 73, it is difficult to directly communicate from the outside network N2 to the in-house network N1.

The conference room terminal 90 is an information processing terminal operated by participants of the conference such as a reservation person who uses the conference room 6. The conference room terminal 90 and the information processing terminal are the same, and they are the information processing terminal before the initial setting and the conference room terminal 90 after the initial setting. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, it is referred to as a conference room terminal 90.

The conference room terminal 90 is arranged on the desk of the conference room 6 or at the entrance of the conference room 6. A plurality of conference room terminals 90 may be arranged in one conference room 6. The conference room terminal 90 can be realized by one or more information processing devices (computer systems) equipped with a general OS or the like.

The conference room terminal 90 transmits the conference room ID to the conference management server 30 and displays the reservation information of the conference room 6 of the day. In addition, control information such as power ON/OFF of the electronic device 70 is acquired from the conference management server 30. As a result, the conference room terminal 90 turns the electronic device 70 on and off.

The conference room terminal 90 also displays a standby screen for check-in, check-out, etc., and communicates with the conference management server 30 to notify the conference management server 30 of check-in or check-out. At the time of check-in, the conference room terminal 90 transmits the conference identification information input from the reservation person and the conference room ID held in advance to the conference management server 30, so that the conference management server 30 uses the conference identification information and the conference room ID to It can be confirmed that the reservation person who reserved the conference room 6 uses the reserved conference room 6.

The electronic device 70 is various office devices that can be used in the conference room 6. For example, an electronic blackboard, a multifunction peripheral, a projector, a digital signage, a digital camera, etc. The electronic blackboard has a large display with a touch panel and detects the coordinates of the board surface designated by the user and connects the coordinates to display a stroke. In addition, it is possible to display an image of a connected PC or to communicate with an electronic blackboard at another site to synchronize strokes. The electronic blackboard may also be called an electronic information board or an electronic whiteboard.

The multi-function peripheral has functions such as a copying machine, a scanner, a printer, and fax transmission/reception, and is used for printing materials during a conference, copying materials, digitizing materials, transmitting materials, and the like. A projector is a device that projects an image. For example, the terminal device 60 allows the participants to share by projecting the image displayed on the display on a screen or the like. Digital signage is a large display used to display any still or moving image. The digital camera is used by each participant to capture and store paper materials or materials displayed on an electronic blackboard.

A terminal device 60 capable of connecting to the in-house network N1 is arranged in the work place 101 of the prospective participant. The terminal device 60 may communicate by wire or wirelessly. The terminal device 60 is an information processing device used when a prospective participant (including a reservation person) reserves a conference room, but it is also supposed to be brought into the conference room. It is an information processing device carried by a prospective participant.

The terminal device 60 can be realized by one or more information processing devices (computer systems) equipped with a general OS and the like. The terminal device 60 is, for example, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a PC (Personal Computer), a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a wearable PC (sunglasses type, wristwatch type, etc.). However, browser software having a communication function, or application software dedicated to the chat server 10 or the reservation management server 20 may operate. For example, a car navigation system, a game machine, a television receiver, etc. can be the terminal device 60.

In the terminal device 60, application software dedicated to the chat server 10 (hereinafter referred to as chat application) operates, and further application software dedicated to the communication system 100 (hereinafter referred to as conference application) operates. However, these may be replaced by browser software.

A registration terminal 50 capable of connecting to the in-house network N1 is arranged in the work place 102 of the administrator. The registration terminal 50 may communicate by wire or wirelessly. The registration terminal 50 is a display terminal for the administrator to initialize the conference room terminal 90.

The registration terminal 50 may be the same information processing device as the terminal device 60. However, since it is mainly used for the administrator to set the conference management server 30, the chat application and the conference application are not necessary. The registration terminal 50 mainly communicates with the conference management server 30 using browser software and displays a web page.
<Hardware configuration>
<< Hardware configuration of conference management server >>
FIG. 4 is an example of a hardware configuration diagram of the conference management server 30. 3 is an example of a schematic hardware configuration diagram of a conference management server 30. FIG. The conference management server 30 includes a CPU 201 and a memory 202 that enables high-speed access to data used by the CPU 201. The CPU 201 and the memory 202 are connected via a system bus 203 to other devices or drivers of the conference management server 30, for example, a graphics driver 204 and a network driver (NIC) 205.

The graphics driver 204 is connected to an LCD (display device, an example of a display) 206 via a bus and monitors a processing result by the CPU 201. Further, the network driver 205 connects the conference management server 30 to the external network N2 at the transport layer level and the physical layer level to establish a session with another device.

An I/O bus bridge 207 is further connected to the system bus 203. A storage device such as an HDD (hard disk drive) 209 is provided downstream of the I/O bus bridge 207 via an I/O bus 208 such as PCI via IDE, ATA, ATAP80I, serial ATA, SCSI, USB, or the like. Are connected. The HDD 209 stores a program 209p that controls the entire conference management server 30. The HDD 209 may be an SSD (Solid State Drive). The program 209p may be distributed while being stored in a storage medium, or may be distributed from a program distribution server.

Further, an input device 210 such as a keyboard and a mouse (referred to as a pointing device) is connected to the I/O bus 208 via a bus such as a USB and receives an input and a command from an operator such as a system administrator. There is.

The illustrated hardware configuration of the conference management server 30 shows hardware elements that the conference management server 30 preferably has.

Although the hardware configuration diagrams of the reservation management server 20, the chat server 10, the registration terminal 50, and the terminal device 60 are the same as or different from those of the conference management server 30, the description of the communication system 100 of the present embodiment will be omitted. There shall be no hindrance to the above. Further, since the conference management server 30, the reservation management server 20, and the chat server 10 are compatible with cloud computing, these hardware configurations are such that hardware resources are dynamically connected/disconnected according to the load. May be composed of Note that cloud computing refers to a usage mode in which resources on a network are used without being aware of specific hardware resources.

<< conference room terminal >>
FIG. 5 is a hardware configuration diagram of an example of the conference room terminal 90. The conference room terminal 90 in FIG. 5 is assumed to be a tablet device. The conference room terminal 90 includes a CPU 601, a ROM 602, a RAM 603, an EEPROM 604, a CMOS sensor 605, an acceleration/direction sensor 606, and a media drive 608.

The CPU 601 controls the entire operation of the conference room terminal 90. The ROM 602 stores a basic input/output program. The RAM 603 is used as a work area for the CPU 601. The EEPROM 604 reads or writes data under the control of the CPU 601. The CMOS sensor 605 captures a subject and obtains image data under the control of the CPU 601. The acceleration/direction sensor 606 is, for example, an electronic magnetic compass that detects geomagnetism, a gyro compass, or an acceleration sensor.

The media drive 608 controls reading or writing (storage) of data with respect to the medium 607 such as a flash memory. The media drive 608 has a structure in which the medium 607 for reading the already recorded data or newly writing the data and storing the data is detachable.

A program 604p executed by the CPU 601 is stored in the EEPROM 604. The program 604p is application software or OS for executing various processes in the embodiment. The program 604p may be distributed while being stored in the medium 607 or the like, or may be distributed from a program distribution server.

The CMOS sensor 605 is a charge-coupled device that converts light into electric charges and digitizes an image of a subject. The CMOS sensor 605 may be, for example, a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensor as long as it can image a subject. The CMOS sensor 605 can read a barcode or a two-dimensional barcode.

Furthermore, the conference room terminal 90 includes an RF tag reader/writer 622, an antenna I/F 623, and a vibration actuator 624. The RF tag reader/writer 622 communicates according to a standard such as NFC (Near Field Communication).

The vibration actuator 624 is a motor that vibrates the conference room terminal 90. For example, when the end time of the conference is approaching, the conference room terminal 90 vibrates to notify the participant of the fact.

Further, the conference room terminal 90 includes a voice input unit 609, a voice output unit 610, an antenna 611, a communication unit 612, a wireless LAN communication unit 613, a short-range wireless communication antenna 614, a short-range wireless communication unit 615, a display 616, and a touch panel 617. And a bus line 619.

The voice input unit 609 converts voice into a voice signal. The voice output unit 610 converts the voice signal into voice. The communication unit 612 uses the antenna 611 to communicate with the nearest base station device by a wireless communication signal. The wireless LAN communication unit 613 performs wireless LAN communication conforming to the IEEE 802.11 standard.

The short-range wireless communication unit 615 is a communication device that uses the short-range wireless communication antenna 614, for example, according to the communication standard of Bluetooth (registered trademark) or Bluetooth Low Energy (registered trademark).

The display 616 is a liquid crystal or organic EL that displays an image of a subject, various icons, and the like. The touch panel 617 is placed on the display 616 and is configured by a pressure-sensitive or electrostatic panel, and detects a touch position on the display 616 by touching with a finger, a touch pen, or the like. The bus line 619 is an address bus, a data bus, or the like for electrically connecting the above respective units.

Further, the conference room terminal 90 has a dedicated battery 618 and can be driven by either the battery 618 or a commercial power source. The voice input unit 609 includes a microphone for inputting voice. The audio output unit 610 includes a speaker that outputs audio.

<About functions>
FIG. 6 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the reservation management server 20, the chat server 10, the conference management server 30, and the registration terminal 50 in block form.

<<Reservation management server>>
The reservation management server 20 has a communication unit 21 and a reservation information management unit 22. Each of these functional units included in the reservation management server 20 is realized by any one of the components shown in FIG. 4 being operated by an instruction from the CPU 201 according to the program 209p loaded from the HDD 209 into the memory 202. Function or means.

The communication unit 21 transmits and receives various information to and from the conference management server 30 and the terminal device 60. The communication unit 21 transmits the screen information of the reservation setting screen to the terminal device 60 and receives the reservation setting from the terminal device 60. Also, the reservation information is transmitted to the conference management server 30. The communication unit 21 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p and controlling the network driver 205.

The reservation information management unit 22 manages reservation information registered by the user. The reservation information management unit 22 reads the reservation information of the conference room 6 requested by the conference management server 30 from the reservation information DB 291, and transmits it to the conference management server 30 via the communication unit 21. Alternatively, when the reservation information is registered (or changed), the reservation information is transmitted to the conference management server 30 even if there is no request. A general Web application is used as a method for the reservation person to reserve the conference room 6 in the reservation management server 20. The reservation information management unit 22 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p.

The reservation management server 20 has a storage unit 29. The storage unit 29 is realized by the memory 202 and the HDD 209 of FIG. The storage unit 29 stores a reservation information DB 291 (Data Base), a constraint condition DB 292, and a request condition DB 293.

Table 1 shows an example of the reservation information stored in the reservation information DB 291. The reservation information is information for managing the reservation status of the conference room 6. In the reservation information, each item of a reservation account, a conference name, a conference room ID, a start time, an end time, and a prospective participant account is registered in association with the reservation ID. The reservation ID is identification information that identifies one record of reservation information. ID is an abbreviation of Identification and means an identifier or identification information. The ID refers to a name, a code, a character string, a numerical value, or a combination of one or more of these, which is used to uniquely distinguish a specific object from a plurality of objects. The same applies to IDs other than the reservation ID. The reservation user account is an account of a prospective participant who reserved the conference room 6. The conference name is the name of the conference arbitrarily given by the prospective participant. The conference room ID is identification information for identifying the conference room 6 on the in-house network. The start time is the beginning of the time zone when the conference room 6 is reserved (the time when the conference starts), and the end time is the end of the time zone when the conference room 6 is reserved (the time when the conference ends). The prospective participants account is an account of prospective participants who will participate in the conference. The accounts in Table 1 are all accounts issued by the reservation management server 20.

<<Chat server>>
The chat server 10 includes a communication unit 11 and a text processing unit 12. Each of these functional units included in the chat server 10 is realized by one of the configuration categories shown in FIG. 4 being operated by an instruction from the CPU 201 according to the program 209p loaded from the HDD 209 into the memory 202. Function or means.

The communication unit 11 transmits and receives various information to and from the conference management server 30. In the present embodiment, the information about the reservation of the conference room, the information for identifying the bot (such as a token described later), and the information for specifying the notification destination group are received from the conference management server 30. The information for identifying the bot is notified in advance from the chat server 10 as the bot identification information when the bot of the conference management server 30 is created. Furthermore, an individual account such as a person who has made a reservation may be designated. Further, the communication unit 11 transmits to the conference management server 30 a message indicating that the prospective participant has read the information regarding the reservation of the conference room or the response of the prospective participant to the displayed information regarding the reservation of the conference room. The communication unit 11 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p and controlling the network driver 205.

Based on the information for identifying the bot notified from the conference management server 30 and the information for specifying the group of the notification destination, the text processing unit 12 reserves the conference room 6 for the prospective participants who belong to the group as the information that the bot speaks. Send information about. Therefore, the notification may be given to only the number of prospective participants, or may be given only to the reservation person or the notified user. In addition, the information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6 is transmitted only to a specific notification destination.

The text processing unit 12 can perform so-called push notification. The mechanism is, for example, as follows. The chat application 60a receives a push notification ID (token) from a server operated by an OS (Operating System) maker. In this server, the token and the device (terminal device 60) are associated with each other. The chat application 60a registers the token and the account of the chat application 60a in the chat server 10. When the chat server 10 sends a push notification, the account of the chat application 60a is specified, so that the associated token can be specified. The chat system designates the token and sends the notification content to the server operated by the OS maker. This server sends a push notification to the device (terminal device 60) associated with the token.

The chat server 10 also has a storage unit 19. The storage unit 19 is realized by the memory 202 and the HDD 209 of FIG. A group information DB 191 is stored in the storage unit 19.

Table 2 shows an example of the group information stored in the group information DB 191. Group information is information in which accounts of members belonging to the same group are registered. In the group information, member accounts 1 to n (n=4 in Table 2) and bot accounts are registered in association with workspaces and channels.

The workspace is identification information for identifying organizations such as companies and departments. In this embodiment, a plurality of members belong to the workspace (for example, company A). The workspace is, for example, a URL, but may be unique. Further, the workspace has a plurality of channels according to the purpose of chat and the like. A channel is, for example, a group for members such as a group for product A and a group for product B with which common information is exchanged. Any of the members belonging to the workspace belongs to the channel. That is, the notification destination is specified by the workspace and the channel. However, since the method of identifying the notification destination differs depending on the chat system, if there is identification information that can uniquely identify the group, only that information may be used, or it may be identified by three or more pieces of information.

Channels are guaranteed unique. Member accounts 1 to n are accounts of channel members, and this account is issued by the chat server 10. In this embodiment, a bot is registered as a member for notifying information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6. The bot is, so to speak, an agent or fictitious member of the conference management server 30. The bot's statement (text) is transmitted to the terminal devices 60 of the member accounts 1 to n.

The workspace and channel are managed by the conference management server 30 and serve as information for identifying the group to which the participant belongs.

<< Meeting Management Server >>
The conference management server 30 includes a communication unit 31, an information association unit 32, a reservation information acquisition unit 33, a notification determination unit 34, a control information generation unit 35, a control information response unit 36, a conference information notification unit 37, and a check-in management unit 38. An initial setting unit 39, an authentication unit 40, an authentication key verification unit 41, a management control unit 42, a terminal ID verification unit 43, a reservation information transmission unit 44, and a remote operation unit 45. Each of these functional units included in the conference management server 30 is realized by one of the configuration categories shown in FIG. 4 being operated by an instruction from the CPU 201 according to the program 209p loaded in the memory 202 from the HDD 209. Function or means. The program 209p is distributed from a server for distributing the program or distributed while being stored in a storage medium.

The communication unit 31 transmits and receives various information to and from the reservation management server 20, the chat server 10, the registration terminal 50, and the terminal device 60. The communication unit 31 has a transmission unit 31a and a reception unit 31b. The receiving unit 31b receives the reservation information from the reservation management server 20, and receives the reservation information request from the conference room terminal 90. The receiving unit 31b also receives a check-in request from the conference room terminal 90. Further, the receiving unit 31b receives the association between the group and account of the chat system from the registration terminal 50 operated by the administrator. The transmission unit 31a transmits information regarding reservation of the conference room to the chat server 10 and transmits reservation information to the conference room terminal 90. The communication unit 31 is realized by the CPU 201 shown in FIG. 4 executing the program 209p and controlling the network driver 205.

The information associating unit 32 mainly performs a process related to the registration work in advance. That is, the registration of the domain is accepted from the registration terminal 50 operated by the administrator, registered in the customer domain DB 495, and the workspace and channel of the chat system transmitted from the registration terminal 50 are associated with the account of the reservation management server 20. It registers in correspondence information DB491. The information associating unit 32 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p.

The reservation information acquisition unit 33 specifies the account of the customer who uses the communication system 100, acquires the reservation information from the reservation management server 20, and registers it in the meeting management information DB 493 as the meeting management information. Alternatively, the changed reservation information is received. Therefore, at least a part of the reservation information of the reservation management server 20 is stored in the conference management information DB 493. The reservation information acquisition unit 33 acquires reservation information from the present to a future for a predetermined period of time among the reservation information held by the reservation management server 20. The predetermined period is determined by how many conferences ahead the notification regarding the reservation of the conference room 6 is given. The reservation information acquisition unit 33 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p or the like.

The notification determination unit 34 determines whether or not there is a reservation of the start time that satisfies the condition to be notified in the conference management information. For example, the notification setting DB 496 is referred to, and it is determined that the notification will be given when the set date and time is calculated backward from the reservation start time. If the bots are divided according to their roles, such as a reminder bot and a reservation acceptance bot, the bot is specified according to the processing. The notification determination unit 34 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p or the like.

When the notification determining unit 34 determines that the notification determining unit 34 notifies, the conference information notifying unit 37 notifies the information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6 by specifying the information for identifying the bot (for example, the token in slack) and the information for specifying the group of the notification destination. The chat server 10 is requested to do so. Although the notification is divided into several times, the meeting identification information is included in at least one of the notifications. The conference identification information is information for the conference management server 30 to confirm that the participants have the right to use the reserved conference room 6 in the reserved time zone. The meeting information notification unit 37 generates the meeting identification information at least before the final notification. The conference identification information is registered in the conference identification information DB 494. The conference information notification unit 37 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p.

The control information generation unit 35 refers to the conference management information, generates control information of the electronic device 70, and registers the control information in the control information DB 497. For example, the control information for turning on the power of the electronic device 70 is generated a few minutes before the start time of the conference, and the control information for turning off the power of the electronic device 70 is generated when the checkout is detected. The control information is stored in the control information DB 497. The control information generation unit 35 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p.

The control information responding unit 36 receives an inquiry from the conference room terminal 90 in the conference room 6 as to whether there is control information, refers to the control information DB 497, and transmits the control information corresponding to the conference room 6 to the conference room terminal 90. .. The control information response unit 36 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p or the like.

The check-in management unit 38 manages check-in/check-out to the conference room. Also, the status of the meeting mainly associated with check-in/check-out is registered in the meeting management information DB 493. Check-in is accepted 5-10 minutes before the start time of the meeting identified by the reservation ID. Then, when the set of the conference room ID and the conference identification information transmitted from the conference room terminal 90 is registered in the conference identification information DB 494, the check-in is permitted. The check-in management unit 38 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p.

The initial setting unit 39 performs processing related to initial setting of the conference room terminal 90. For example, a list of conference rooms (setting screen described below) is provided to the registration terminal 50 of the administrator of the communication system 100, and the conference room ID and the conference room name of the conference room selected by the administrator of the communication system 100 are specified. The authentication key is generated and the URL (Uniform Resource Locator; address information of the conference management server 30) of the conference management server 30 is transmitted to the registration terminal 50. The check-in management unit 38 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p. The function of the initial setting unit 39 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

The authentication unit 40 authenticates the administrator based on the login password and user ID of the login information DB 499.

The authentication key verification unit 41 authenticates the conference room terminal 90 depending on whether the authentication key transmitted from the conference room terminal matches the one registered in the conference room setting information DB 498. Therefore, only the conference room terminal having the correct authentication key can acquire the reservation information.

The management control unit 42 confirms, for each conference room, whether the management start flag registered in the conference room setting information DB 498 is True and whether acquisition of reservation information is requested. As will be described later, the management start flag is a flag indicating whether or not the management of the conference room may be started.

The terminal ID verification unit 43 verifies based on the terminal ID whether or not a predetermined number or more of conference room terminals are registered in one conference room.

The reservation information transmitting unit 44 transmits the reservation information (conference management information) stored in the conference management information DB 493 in response to the request from the conference room terminal 90. However, the authentication with the authentication key must be successful and the management start flag must be set to True. The reservation information transmitting unit 44 may transmit in the JSON format, the XML format, the CVS (Comma-Separated Values) format, or the like. Since the reservation information is repeatedly transmitted, a format having a small capacity is advantageous.

The remote control unit 45 enables the conference room terminal 90 to be operated remotely. The administrator operates the registration terminal 50 to send an operation to restore the conference room terminal 90 that cannot connect to the network to the conference management server 30. The remote control unit 45 stores, for example, the terminal ID of the conference room terminal 90 (the conference room terminal 90 relaying the diagnostic information) in association with the remote operation information, and the conference room terminal 90 acquires the reservation information. The operation information of the remote operation is transmitted at the timing. Alternatively, the operation information may be notified by push from the outside of the firewall.

The conference management server 30 also has a storage unit 49. The storage unit 49 is realized by the memory 202 and the HDD 209 of FIG. The storage unit 49 stores a correspondence information DB 491, a conference management information DB 493, a conference identification information DB 494, a customer domain DB 495, a notification setting DB 496, a control information DB 497, a conference room setting information DB 498, and a login information DB 499.

Table 3 shows an example of the association information stored in the association information DB 491. Correspondence information is information that associates an account in the reservation management system with a group in the chat system. The correspondence information has items of workspace, channel, and member accounts 1 to n (n=4 in the table). The workspace and channels are as above. The account of each participant issued by the reservation management server 20 is registered in the member accounts 1 to n. Also, as shown in Table 3, an account of the chat system may be registered. In order to notify the group, information for identifying the account of the reservation management server 20 of the user who reserved the conference and the group and channel of the notification destination (the workspace in the present embodiment) to the reservation management server 20. Channel name), and it is not always necessary to register the accounts of all members who belong to the group. However, when notifying to an individual user, account information of each chat system is required, and thus the registration may be performed as shown in Table 3.

Table 4 shows an example of the conference management information stored in the conference management information DB 493 of the conference management server 30. Since the reservation information is stored in the conference management information DB 493, Table 4 describes differences from the reservation information DB 291 in Table 1. The conference management information in Table 4 has a status item. The status means the status of the reservation. For example, the status of notification of information regarding reservation of the conference room 6, confirmation of use, check-in, check-out, or cancellation (cancellation) is registered.

Table 5 shows an example of the conference identification information management information stored in the conference identification information DB 494. The conference identification information management information is information for managing the conference identification information for each reservation in the conference room 6. The conference identification information management information has items of a reservation ID, a conference room ID, and conference identification information. These are the same as the reservation information except for the status (reservation information received from the reservation management server 20), and the description thereof is omitted because it has already been described. The reservation ID is registered in order to identify the reservation of the same conference room 6. The status means the status of the reservation. For example, the status of notification of information regarding reservation of a conference room, confirmation of use, check-in, check-out, or cancellation (cancellation) is registered.

Table 6 shows an example of customer domain information stored in the customer domain DB 495. The customer domain information is information for managing the customer domain and the account of the customer administrator. In the customer domain information, the domain name of the customer and the administrator account of the customer are registered in association with each other. The customer domain in Table 6 is the domain of the account (email address) issued by the reservation management server 20. The administrator account is an account of a customer administrator (representative). The accounts in Table 6 are issued by the reservation management server 20.

Table 7 shows an example of the notification setting information stored in the notification setting DB 496. The notification setting information holds the setting related to the notification for each customer. In the notification setting information, the customer domain name and the notification setting are registered in association with each other. In the notification setting, the timing of how much before the conference start time the information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6 is notified is set. Alternatively, a fixed date and time may be set. Further, the timing does not have to be one, and one customer may have notification settings registered multiple times.

Table 8 shows an example of the control information stored in the control information DB 497. The control information is information for controlling the electronic device 70 in the conference room 6. The control information has each item of the conference room ID and the control content. The control content is a specific control method of the electronic device 70. The conference management server 30 can set detailed control contents for each electronic device 70. If the control time is not registered, it is difficult to transmit from the conference management server 30 of the outside network to the conference room terminal 90, and the conference room terminal 90 accesses the conference management server 30. At this time, the control information This is because the control content is transmitted if is generated.

Table 9 shows an example of the conference room setting information stored in the conference room setting information DB 498. The conference room setting information is information regarding the settings for each conference room. The conference room setting information has items of a conference room name, a conference room ID, a state of a conference room terminal, an authentication key, a management start flag, and the number of conference room terminals that can be registered in association with a customer ID.
-The conference room name is a general name of the conference room recognized by the participants of the conference, and is, for example, the one presented at the entrance of the conference room.
The conference room ID is identification information that uniquely identifies the conference room as described above. For simplicity, the conference room ID can be shared with the reservation management server 20. Further, by providing the conversion table, the administrator can also set it separately from the reservation management server 20.
The state of the conference room terminal indicates whether the initial setting of the conference room terminal 90 is completed, communication is possible, and the like.
Connected: Communication is confirmed within a fixed period Before setup: Before initial setting Disconnection: No communication for a fixed period or longer It becomes authentication information. The authentication key is transmitted to the conference room terminal 90 by the initial setting. The authentication key is a combination of numbers, alphabets, symbols, etc., whose number of digits is too long to be specified by the brute force method. The authentication key may be determined by the conference management server 30 or the administrator.
The management start flag is a flag (True: start False: not start) indicating whether or not the conference management server 30 starts managing the conference room after the initial setting of the conference room terminal 90 is completed. With the management start flag, it is possible to suppress the inconvenience caused by the time lag from the completion of the initial setting to the placement of the conference room terminal 90. Details will be described later.
The number of conference room terminals that can be registered is the number of conference room terminals that can be associated with one conference room. There is no problem if there is one conference room terminal 90 in one conference room, but if an abnormality occurs in the conference room terminal 90, it becomes difficult to check-in to the conference room during repair. Therefore, the administrator may want to associate a plurality of conference room terminals 90 with one conference room. Even if the authentication key is leaked to the outside, the number associated with one conference room is determined, so that the reservation information can be prevented from leaking to the outside. The initial value may be 1 or plural.

The conference room name and the conference room ID are predetermined, or the administrator can set them. The one transmitted from the reservation management server 20 may be used. The initial state of the conference room terminal (immediately after the setting of the provider) is before the setup, but it changes depending on the communication situation. The authentication key is numbered and set by the conference management server 30 at the time of initial setting. The management start flag is set by the administrator from a setting screen described later. Similarly, the administrator can set the number of conference room terminals that can be registered. In many cases, the number of conference room terminals that can be registered is one or more. When set to 1, only one conference room terminal 90 can be registered in one conference room.

Table 10 shows an example of login information stored in the login information DB 499. The login information is information for the administrator to log in to the conference management server 30. The login information has each item of customer ID, login password, user ID, and server URL. The administrator logs in to the conference management server 30 with the login password and the user ID, and causes the registration terminal 50 to display the setting screen described later. By logging in, the customer who has the conference room in which the administrator arranges the conference room terminal 90 is specified. The server URL assigned to the customer is registered in the login information DB 499, and the customer's conference room terminal 90 can communicate with the conference management server 30. The server URL is the URL assigned to the customer in the conference management server 30, and the conference room terminal 90 can access the server URL to acquire the customer's reservation information. However, the server URL may be common to a plurality of customers.

<< registration terminal >>
The registration terminal 50 has a communication unit 51, an operation reception unit 52, and a display control unit 53. Each of these functional units included in the registration terminal 50 is realized by any one of the components illustrated in FIG. 4 being operated by an instruction from the CPU 201 according to the program 209p loaded from the HDD 209 into the memory 202. Function or means. The program 209p is distributed from a server for distributing the program or distributed while being stored in a storage medium.

The registration terminal 50 is a terminal for the administrator to make various settings regarding the conference room via a Web page provided by the conference management server 30. Browser software runs on the registration terminal 50.

The communication unit 51 included in the registration terminal 50 transmits and receives various information to and from the conference management server 30 and the like. For example, the conference room setting information of each conference room is received, or the information set by the administrator regarding the conference room setting information is transmitted.

The operation reception unit 52 receives various operations on the registration terminal. The display control unit 53 analyzes various screen information from the conference management server 30 and displays it on the LCD 206.

<<Terminal device>>
FIG. 7 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the terminal device 60 and the conference room terminal 90 in block form. The function of the electronic device 70 will be described as needed.

The terminal device 60 includes a communication unit 61a, an operation reception unit 61b, a display control unit 61c, a chat communication unit 62, a text display unit 63, an application communication unit 64, a server communication unit 65, a display control unit 66, an application communication unit 67, and , A terminal communication unit 68. Each of these functional units included in the terminal device 60 is realized by any one of the configuration categories shown in FIG. Function or means. The program 209p is distributed from a server for distributing the program or distributed while being stored in a storage medium. Since the chat application 60a and the conference application 60b are operating in the terminal device 60, the program 209p includes the chat application 60a and the conference application 60b.

The communication unit 61a transmits and receives various information to and from the conference management server 30 and the reservation management server 20. The communication unit 61a is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p and controlling the network driver 205.

The operation reception unit 61b receives various operations of the participant on the terminal device 60. The operation reception unit 61b is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p to control the input device 210 and the like.

The display control unit 61c interprets screen information of various screens and displays the screen information on the LCD 206. The operation reception unit 61b and the display control unit 61c have a browser function, for example, and can execute a Web application. For example, the reservation setting screen received from the reservation management server 20 is displayed, and the operation reception unit 61b receives the reservation information set by the reservation person.

The chat communication unit 62 of the chat application 60a transmits/receives various kinds of information to/from the chat server 10. In the present embodiment, the information related to the reservation of the conference room 6 is received from the chat server 10, and the chat server 10 is notified that it has been read, whether the conference room 6 is used or canceled, and the like. The chat communication unit 62 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p and controlling the network driver 205, or the like.

The text display unit 63 of the chat application 60a displays the text (information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6) transmitted from the chat server 10. For example, the utterance source is a bot, and the text is displayed as if the bot had input. The text display unit 63 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the chat application 60a or the like.

The application communication unit 64 of the chat application 60a calls the conference application 60b and transmits the conference identification information to the conference application 60b. Since the chat server 10 sends the information for identifying the conference application 60b to the terminal device 60 when notifying the information about the reservation of the conference room 6, the chat application 60a specifies the conference application 60b to the OS and identifies the conference. Request notification of information. The OS can activate the conference application 60b. The application communication unit 64 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the chat application 60a or the like.

The server communication unit 65 of the conference application 60b communicates with the conference management server 30. For example, the two-dimensional code including the conference identification information is acquired from the conference management server 30. The server communication unit 65 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the conference application 60b or the like. The two-dimensional code is used for authentication at check-in. It may be several digits for authentication.

The display control unit 66 of the conference application 60b displays a two-dimensional code including the conference identification information on the LCD 206. The display control unit 66 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the conference application 60b to control the graphics driver and the like.

The application communication unit 67 of the conference application 60b acquires various kinds of information (conference identification information and the like included in the information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6) from the chat application 60a via the OS. The application communication unit 67 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the conference application 60b or the like.

The terminal communication unit 68 communicates with the conference room terminal 90 and transmits conference identification information and the like. The terminal communication unit 68 detects the presence of the conference room terminal 90 by short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark), and transmits the conference identification information when detecting the conference room terminal 90. In addition, the conference room terminal 90 is provided with a function of displaying a two-dimensional code. The terminal communication unit 68 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the conference application 60b.

<< conference room terminal >>
The conference room terminal 90 includes a server communication unit 91, a terminal device communication unit 92, an operation reception unit 93, a display control unit 94, a failure response unit 94-2, an adjacent terminal communication unit 94-3, an electronic device communication unit 95, a terminal authentication unit. It has a 96, an imaging unit 97, a decoding unit 98, a setting recording unit 98-2, and a reservation information requesting unit 98-3. Each of these functional units included in the conference room terminal 90 is realized by one of the configuration categories shown in FIG. 5 being operated by a command from the CPU 601 according to the program 604p loaded from the EEPROM 604 to the RAM 603. Function or means. This program 604p is distributed from a server for distributing the program or distributed while being stored in a storage medium.

The server communication unit 91 communicates with the conference management server 30 mainly using the wireless LAN communication unit 613 or the communication unit 612 with the server URL 993 as the destination. Since the conference room terminal 90 exists in the company network, it is difficult for the conference management server 30 to communicate with the conference room terminal 90. Therefore, the server communication unit 91 communicates with the conference management server 30 using a communication technique such as polling (which periodically communicates with the conference management server 30) or WebSocket. When there is no communication from the server communication unit 91, the disconnection is registered in the conference room setting information DB 498. The server communication unit 91 may communicate with a communication protocol such as HTTP, and the communication protocol is not particularly limited. The wireless LAN communication unit 613 or the communication unit 612 corresponds to the first communication means.

The server communication unit 91 of the present embodiment receives the reservation information, and at the time of check-in, the terminal device communication unit 92 transmits the conference identification information received from the terminal device 60 or the conference identification information manually input to the conference management server 30. To do. Further, the server communication unit 91 receives the control information from the conference management server 30. The server communication unit 91 is realized by the CPU 601 of FIG. 5 executing the program 604p to control the wireless LAN communication unit 613, and the like.

The terminal device communication unit 92 communicates with the terminal device 60. In this embodiment, conference identification information and the like are received. The terminal device communication unit 92 is realized by the CPU 601 of FIG. 5 executing the program 604p to control the short-range wireless communication unit 615 or the RF tag reader/writer 622.

The operation reception unit 93 receives various operations on the conference room terminal 90. The operation reception unit 93 is realized by the CPU 601 of FIG. 5 executing the program 604p and controlling the touch panel 617, or the like.

The display control unit 94 displays the screen generated by the terminal application 90a on the display 616. This screen is a standby screen that allows check-in and check-out. The display control unit 94 is realized by the CPU 601 of FIG. 5 executing the program 604p to control the display 616, or the like.

The failure handling unit 94-2 performs processing such as switching communication means when a network failure occurs. Details will be described later.

The adjacent terminal communication unit 94-3 communicates with another conference room terminal 90 using the short-range wireless communication unit 615. It may be a conference room terminal 90 in the same conference room as another conference room terminal 90 or a conference room terminal 90 in an adjacent conference room. For example, by communicating with the conference room terminal 90 in the adjacent conference room, it is not necessary to prepare a redundant configuration. The conference room terminal 90 may be within the reach of the radio waves of the short-range wireless communication unit 615. The short-range wireless communication unit 615 corresponds to the second communication means.

The electronic device communication unit 95 communicates with the electronic device 70. In this embodiment, the control information received by the server communication unit 91 is transmitted to the electronic device 70. The electronic device communication unit 95 is realized by the CPU 601 of FIG. 5 executing the program 604p to control the wireless LAN communication unit 613 and the like.

The terminal authentication unit 96 authenticates the administrator login to the terminal application based on whether or not the entered administrator password is correct. This is because the conference room terminal 90 arranged in the conference room can be operated by an unspecified participant, so that the initial settings may be changed without the authentication function.

The image capturing unit 97 mainly captures an image code. The image code is an image including information such as a QR code (registered trademark) or a barcode. When the administrator operates the conference room terminal 90 so that the image code enters the angle of view of the CMOS sensor 605, the imaging unit 97 recognizes the image code and automatically generates image data. The decoding unit 98 decodes the image code captured by the image capturing unit 97 to restore the communication setting information.

The setting recording unit 98-2 stores the communication setting information (conference room ID, authentication key, server URL, conference room name) decoded by the decoding unit 98 in the storage unit 99.

The reservation information requesting unit 98-3 repeatedly transmits the conference room ID and the authentication key to the conference management server 30 via the server communication unit 91 at the regular timing of acquiring the reservation information. As a response, the reservation information request unit 98-3 acquires the reservation information via the server communication unit 91. Reservation information should be acquired only when there is a change. The timing is a cycle of every few seconds to several minutes. The shorter the cycle, the faster the reservation information can be updated, but the communication load also increases. In this embodiment, it is set to 30 seconds, for example. Further, at least the conference management information (reservation information) of the conference room 6 of the day can be received via the server communication unit 91.

In addition, the conference room terminal 90 has a storage unit 99. The storage unit 99 is realized by the ROM 602 and the EEPROM 604 shown in FIG. The storage unit 99 stores a conference room ID 991, an authentication key 992, a server URL 993, a conference room name 994, a terminal ID 995, an administrator password 996, and an IP address 997 of the electronic device 70.

The terminal ID 995 is identification information of the conference room terminal 90. The terminal ID is used by the conference management server 30 to identify the conference room terminals 90 in order to prevent more than a predetermined number of conference room terminals 90 in one conference room from connecting to the conference management server 30. The terminal ID may be unique such as a UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) of the terminal application or a MAC address. UUID is a unique identifier in which no two or more items in the world have the same value without specific management.

The administrator password 996 is set by the administrator when the terminal application 90a is installed or first started. The administrator sets the IP address 997 of the electronic device 70 as necessary.

<About the initial setting section of the conference management server>
FIG. 8 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the initial setting unit 39 in block form. The initial setting unit 39 has a setting screen generation unit 391, an authentication key generation unit 392, an encryption unit 393, an image code generation unit 394, and an information management unit 395. The storage unit 49 is the same as that shown in FIG. The initial setting unit 39 controls each function to perform necessary processing.

The information management unit 395 reads various kinds of information stored in the storage unit 49, and functions that require the information (setting screen generation unit 391, authentication key generation unit 392, encryption unit 393, image code generation unit 394). To send to.

The setting screen generation unit 391 generates screen information of the setting screen and transmits it to the registration terminal 50 via the communication unit 31. The screen information is created by HTML, CSS (Cascade Style Sheet), JavaScript (registered trademark), or the like. A setting screen is provided by JavaScript (registered trademark) as one screen of a web application that operates on a browser. The setting screen generation unit 391 is used for other than the initial setting, and generates screen information of the setting screen when requested by the registration terminal 50 or the like.

The encryption unit 393 encrypts the communication setting information acquired by the information management unit 395 from the storage unit 49. The image code generation unit 394 encodes the encrypted communication setting information into an image code. Briefly, the communication setting information is information necessary for the conference room terminal 90 to communicate with the conference management server 30. The server URL is information for specifying a communication destination, the authentication key is information for receiving authentication, and the conference room ID is information for notifying which conference room the communication is from. Since the conference room name is information displayed by the conference room terminal 90, it does not matter even if it is not included in the communication setting information.

<About the function of the fault response section>
FIG. 9 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the function of the fault handling unit 94-2 in a block form. The failure handling unit 94-2 includes a connection failure detection unit 81, a nearby wireless terminal search unit 82, a nearby wireless terminal relay unit 83, and an operation information execution unit 84.

The connection failure detection unit 81 detects a network failure (communication failure). The network failure is detected as being unable to connect to the network from the viewpoint of the conference room terminal 90 or disconnecting the network.

First, as an error that occurs in the conference room terminal 90,
1. Wi-Fi is off 2. Not connected to Wi-Fi 3. There are three forms of inability to communicate with the server. 1. The fact that Wi-Fi is off depends on the setting of the conference room terminal 90 and a slight malfunction. 2. Not connected to Wi-Fi means that it cannot connect to the access point due to failure, power off, or congestion of the access point. 3. Failure to communicate with the server is due to a problem on the server side. In the present embodiment, if there is a problem on the server side, communication cannot be performed even if another conference room terminal 90 relays, so in the present embodiment an error of form 1 or 2 is detected.

In the case of the form 1 or 2, when the conference room terminal 90 tries to communicate with the conference management server 30, it times out. When it times out, the connection failure detection unit 81 of the conference room terminal 90 inquires the OS of the conference room terminal 90 to detect that Wi-Fi is off. If it is not off, the connection failure detection unit 81 of the conference room terminal 90 inquires of the OS to determine whether the connected SSID (Service Set Identifier) can be acquired. If the SSID cannot be acquired, it is determined that “2. Wi-Fi is not connected”. If "3. Cannot communicate with the server", no timeout occurs, but the conference room terminal 90 receives a status in the 400s such as HTTP or NACK (or a response equivalent to this). Detected by.

When a network failure occurs, the reservation information requesting unit 98-3 cannot acquire the reservation information. Therefore, the connection failure detecting unit 81 may detect that the network cannot be connected.

When the server communication unit 91 cannot connect to the network, the connection failure detection unit 81 notifies the display control unit 94 to that effect, and the display control unit 94 displays an error screen (see FIG. 19B).

The nearby wireless terminal searching unit 82 searches for another communicable conference room terminal 90 in the vicinity by using the adjacent terminal communication unit 94-3. The other conference room terminal 90, for example, periodically transmits a beacon by Bluetooth (registered trademark), and therefore, when it can receive this beacon, it detects the other conference room terminal 90 with which communication is possible. The neighborhood is a range within which the radio of the short-range wireless communication unit 615 can reach. Note that the conference room terminal 90, which is itself, also transmits a beacon.

The nearby wireless terminal relay unit 83 uses the adjacent terminal communication unit 94-3 to relay communication with the conference management server 30 in response to a request from the conference room terminal 90 that cannot connect to the network. That is, the server communication unit 91 transmits the diagnostic information received by the adjacent terminal communication unit 94-3 from the conference room terminal 90 that cannot connect to the network, to the conference room terminal 90 via the server communication unit 91 of its own. The operation information received from the conference management server 30 is transmitted to the conference room terminal 90 that cannot connect to the network via the adjacent terminal communication unit 94-3.

The neighboring wireless terminal relay unit 83 is assumed to be mounted as an independent application or module that communicates using the neighboring terminal communication unit 94-3.

Further, the operation information execution unit 84 executes the operation information of the remote operation received by the nearby wireless terminal relay unit 83 from the other conference room terminal 90. This operation information is, for example, operation information for restoring the connection to the network (operation information for eliminating the above errors 1 and 2).

<About the setting screen>
FIG. 10 shows an example of the setting screen 501 displayed by the registration terminal 50. The administrator logs in from the registration terminal 50 to the conference management server 30 with the login password and the user ID. In this embodiment, since the initial setting is performed, the administrator displays the setting screen 501 shown as an example in FIG.

The setting screen 501 includes a check mark column 502, a conference room name column 503, a conference room ID column 504, a conference room terminal connection state column 505, an operation group column 506, an image code column 507, and a registerable terminal number column 508. Each column is displayed. The contents of the columns are information stored in the conference room setting information DB 498 in Table 9 except for the operation group. The operation group is a group that defines the operation policy of the conference room. There are meeting rooms used by general employees, meeting rooms used by executives, reception rooms, training rooms, etc., and it may be desired to change the operation policy depending on the group. For example, in the general conference room, the conference start time may be used as the timing of automatic cancellation, but in the reception room, the timing of automatic cancellation may be delayed in consideration of the possibility that the visitor may be delayed. In addition, there are times when it is desirable to have different remind timings for the training room (which we want to speed up to prepare for training) and the general meeting room.

In the present embodiment, among the items shown in FIG. 10, at least the conference room name column 503 and the image code column 507 may be displayed. However, the administrator can confirm the state of the conference room terminal in each conference room from the connection state column 505 of the conference room terminal. For example, if the connection is disconnected, it is possible to immediately check the situation.

The check mark column 502 corresponds to the management start flag in the conference room setting information DB 498 in Table 9. The check mark field 502 is a reception button for accepting the setting requesting the start of management of the conference room. Checked is True, unchecked is False. The presence of the check mark field 502 can prevent the conference management server 30 from starting conference room management, particularly automatic cancellation, even after the initial setting is completed. For example, when the administrator's work place 102 is away from the conference room, it takes time for the administrator to initialize the conference room terminal 90 and set it as the conference room. During the time from the initial setting to the setting of the conference room, when the conference cancellation time has passed, the reservation of the conference room is canceled even if there are participants, and the conference room is double booked or another person comes in. Such adverse effects may occur.

Further, when the administrator initializes many conference room terminals 90, it takes time from the initialization of the first conference room terminal 90 to the initialization of the last conference room terminal 90 by the administrator. If the conference cancellation time elapses during this period, the reservation of the conference room may be canceled even if there are participants, and other persons may come in and other adverse effects may occur.

Further, depending on the operation, it is also effective when it is desired to start the management of the conference room in each of the conference rooms at substantially the same time.

When the check mark column 502 is checked and the conference room terminal 90 starts the reservation information acquisition request after the image code is captured, the conference management server 30 transmits the reservation information to the conference room terminal 90 as the start of management. Also, the process (cancel) of canceling the reservation information when the conference room is not started for a predetermined time is started.

The image code column 507 shown in FIG. 10 can accept the depression of the administrator. When the administrator depresses the image code column 507 of any conference room, the operation acceptance unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 accepts the depression, The registration terminal 50 requests the image code from the conference management server 30. Accordingly, the communication unit 51 can receive the image code including the communication setting information.

The administrator can arbitrarily set the number of terminals that can be registered. However, since at least one conference room terminal 90 is preferably arranged in the conference room, it is preferable that the setting screen 501 not accept 0 (zero).

The number of terminals column 508 receives input (setting) of the maximum number of conference room terminals 90 that can be registered in one conference room.

Although a plurality of conference rooms are displayed in FIG. 10, when the provider who provides the communication system 100 does not make various settings regarding the conference room of the customer in the conference management server 30, there may be a case where no conference room is displayed. is there.

FIG. 11 shows a setting screen 501 on which the image code is superimposed and displayed. As shown in FIG. 11, the display control unit 53 of the registration terminal 50 pops up the image code 110 on the setting screen 501. The conference room name and conference room ID may be displayed together with the image code 110. This allows the administrator to know which conference room the image code is for initial setting.

Instead of displaying the image code 110 in a pop-up, it may be displayed as another web page or may be downloaded as a single file. The administrator takes an image of this image code at the conference room terminal 90 that is the target of initial setting.

<Screen transition of conference room terminal>
Next, transition of screens displayed by the terminal application of the conference room terminal 90 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 12 shows an example of a screen displayed by the terminal application of the conference room terminal 90.

First, when the administrator activates the terminal application of the conference room terminal 90, an initial screen 510 shown in FIG. 12A is displayed. The initial screen 510 has a registration button 511, and when the administrator presses the registration button 511, the operation reception unit 93 receives the pressing of the registration button 511. The registration button 511 is a button (for initial setting) for registering the conference room terminal 90 in the conference management server 30.

By pressing the registration button 511, the display control unit 94 of the conference room terminal 90 displays the password input screen 520, as shown in FIG. The password input screen 520 has a password input field 521 and an OK button 522. The administrator inputs the administrator password stored in the storage unit 99 into the password input field 521 and presses the OK button 522. The operation receiving unit 93 receives these operations. The terminal authentication unit 96 compares the input administrator password with the administrator password stored in the storage unit 99 to determine whether the authentication is successful or unsuccessful. Accordingly, it is possible to prevent the general user from arbitrarily changing the setting of the conference room terminal 90 arranged in the conference room where the general user enters and leaves.

When the authentication is successful with the administrator password, the conference room terminal setting screen 525 is displayed as shown in FIG. When the administrator presses a setting button 403, which will be described later, the imaging unit 97 of the conference room terminal 90 is activated as shown in FIG. FIG. 12D shows the starting screen 530. When the administrator operates the conference room terminal 90 so that the image code of FIG. 11 is within the angle of view of the CMOS sensor 605, the image capturing unit 97 captures the image code.

The display control unit 94 of the conference room terminal 90 displays the image code (an example of the information to be provided) captured as shown in FIG. 12E on the display 616 so that the administrator can easily operate it during the image capturing. It is displayed like a moving image in (an example of means). FIG. 12E shows an image capturing screen 540. The decoding unit 98 decodes the captured image code to restore the communication setting information.

When the communication setting information can be restored by decoding the image code, the conference room terminal setting screen 525 is displayed again as shown in FIG. The conference room name of the communication setting information is automatically displayed on the conference room terminal setting screen 525. When the administrator presses the setting completion button 417, the conference room terminal 90 starts acquisition of reservation information. After pressing the setting completion button 417, a standby screen without reservation information is displayed.

The server communication unit 91 of the conference room terminal 90 can communicate with the conference management server 30 using the communication setting information. If the authentication with the authentication key and the confirmation of the management start flag are successful, the conference room terminal 90 can acquire the reservation information.

As described above, when the initial setting of the conference room terminal 90 is completed and the management start flag becomes True, the conference room terminal 90 starts downloading the reservation information. FIG. 12G shows a display screen (standby screen) 550 of the downloaded reservation information. A display example of the standby screen will be described with reference to FIG.

<Initial setting processing procedure>
Next, with reference to FIG. 13, a procedure for the administrator to perform the initial setting of the conference room terminal 90 will be described. FIG. 13 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating a procedure of initial setting of the conference room terminal 90 in the communication system 100. It is assumed that the conference room terminal 90 has a terminal application installed. Further, the registration terminal 50 is supposed to display a login screen for logging in to the conference management server 30.

S1: The reservation information acquisition unit 33 of the conference management server 30 transmits a resource list request to the reservation management server at a predetermined frequency. The resource list request means requesting a list of customer resources registered in the reservation management server. Since the conference room is treated as a resource in the communication system 100, the conference management server 30 can acquire the list of conference rooms displayed on the setting screen 501 by the resource list request. The predetermined frequency may be a relatively low frequency such as once a day. The resources include the electronic device 70 in addition to the conference room.

S2: The reservation information acquisition unit 33 of the conference management server 30 repeatedly transmits the reservation information acquisition request to the reservation management server. The reservation information acquisition request means designating a domain and requesting reservation information of a reservation person who has this domain as an account. Thereby, the conference management server 30 can acquire the reservation information for the fixed period. The frequency of repetition is preferably relatively high, for example, every few minutes, every 30 minutes, every hour. Regarding the reservation information, the newly registered or changed reservation information may be automatically transmitted from the reservation management server 20.

S3: On the other hand, the administrator performs a login operation on the registration terminal 50. That is, the login password and the user ID are input. The operation receiving unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 receives a login operation.

S4: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 transmits a login request (login password and user ID) to the conference management server 30. Such an authentication destination server may exist separately from the conference management server 30.

S5: The authentication unit 40 of the conference management server 30 performs authentication depending on whether or not the login password and the user ID are registered in the login information DB 499. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the authentication is successful. The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 transmits the authentication result to the registration terminal 50.

S6: The administrator performs an operation to display the resource list on the registration terminal 50. Displaying the resource list means displaying the setting screen 501 in FIG. 9. The operation receiving unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 receives an operation for displaying a resource list. The setting screen 501 may be automatically displayed by the authentication. Since the administrator is logged in, the customer ID of the customer who is going to initialize the conference room terminal 90 is specified by the administrator.

S7: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 transmits a resource list request to the conference management server 30.

S8: The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 receives the resource list request, the setting screen generation unit 391 acquires the conference room setting information specified by the customer ID from the conference room setting information DB 498, and the conference room of the customer ( A setting screen 501 having a list of (resources) is generated. The resources include the electronic device 70 other than the conference room. The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 transmits the screen information of the setting screen 501 to the registration terminal 50.

S9: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 receives the screen information of the setting screen 501, and the display control unit 53 displays the setting screen 501 as shown in FIG.

S10: Next, the administrator specifies the conference room in which the conference room terminal 90 is to be registered and performs an operation to display the image code. That is, the image code field 507 is pressed. The operation receiving unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 receives an operation of displaying the image code.

S11: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 specifies the conference room ID and transmits an image code display request to the conference management server 30.

S12: The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 receives the image code display request, and first, the information management unit 395 acquires the communication setting information from the storage unit 49. The information management unit 395 acquires the server URL associated with the customer ID from the login information DB 499. In addition, the conference room name and the authentication key associated with the conference room ID transmitted from the conference room terminal 90 are acquired from the conference room setting information DB 498. The authentication key generation unit 392 may generate an authentication key for the conference room terminal 90 at this timing. The encryption unit 393 encrypts the above communication setting information.

S13: Next, the image code generator 394 encodes the communication setting information to generate an image code. In this way, the conference management server 30 provides the communication setting information in response to the request for the communication setting information.

S14: The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 transmits the image code to the registration terminal 50.

S15: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 receives the image code, and the display control unit 53 displays the image code on the display 616 as shown in FIG.

S16: Next, the administrator presses the registration button 511 of the conference room terminal 90 and inputs the administrator password. That is, the registration button 511 is pressed on the initial screen 510 shown in FIG. 12A, and the administrator password is input to the password input screen 520 shown in FIG. 12B. The operation receiving unit 93 of the conference room terminal 90 receives these operations.

S17: The terminal authentication unit 96 of the conference room terminal 90 determines that the authentication has succeeded when the administrator password input by the administrator matches the administrator password stored in the storage unit 99, and when they do not match. Judge that authentication failed.

S18: When the authentication is successful, the administrator activates the camera by pressing the setting button 403 on the conference room terminal setting screen 525 as shown in FIG. 12(c).

S19: As shown in FIG. 12D, the imaging unit 97 of the conference room terminal 90 is activated.

S20: When the administrator operates the conference room terminal 90 so that the image code enters the angle of view of the CMOS sensor 605, the imaging unit 97 recognizes the image code and automatically outputs the image data as shown in FIG. To generate.

S21: The decoding unit 98 decodes the image code captured by the imaging unit 97 to restore the communication setting information. As a result, the conference room terminal setting screen 525 is displayed again as shown in FIG.

S22: The setting recording unit 98-2 stores the communication setting information in the storage unit 99. Therefore, the storage unit 99 stores the conference room ID, the server URL, the authentication key, and the conference room name, and can communicate with the conference management server 30. Reservation information can be acquired depending on the state of the management start flag. In this way, the conference room terminal 90 automatically starts communication with the conference management server 30 by recording the communication setting information.

Next, with reference to FIG. 14, a process in which the conference room terminal 90 acquires reservation information will be described. FIG. 14 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating a process until the conference room terminal 90 acquires the reservation information. It is assumed that the administrator is displaying the setting screen 501.

S31: First, the administrator turns on the check mark field 502 of a predetermined conference room on the setting screen 501. This operation corresponds to the management start operation (actually, management is started by requesting reservation information). The operation receiving unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 receives this operation.

S32: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 sends a management start request to the meeting management server 30 by setting the management start flag to True and designating the meeting room ID.

S33: The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 receives the management start request. As a result, the information management unit 395 sets the management start flag of the conference room setting information specified by the conference room ID to True. Thereby, when the reservation information is requested, the conference management server 30 can transmit the reservation information.

S34: The reservation information request unit 98-3 of the conference room terminal 90 periodically communicates with the conference management server 30 via the server communication unit 91. That is, the reservation information is requested by designating the conference room ID and the authentication key to the server URL of the storage unit 99 (for example, every 30 seconds). Transmission of the terminal ID is not essential, but may be transmitted for the conference management server 30 to verify the number of conference room terminals that can be registered.

Regarding the mechanism by which the reservation information requesting unit 98-3 continuously obtains the reservation information, in addition to the method of requesting the conference management server 30 at regular intervals, the conference management server when the information of the conference room is changed. A method may be used in which the conference room terminal 90 notifies the conference room terminal 90 of the change, and the conference room terminal 90 requests the conference management server 30 only when the notification is made. Any method may be used as long as the conference room terminal 90 can handle the acquisition of the changed reservation information.

S35: The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 receives the request for the reservation information, and the authentication key verification unit 41 verifies the authentication key. That is, the authentication key specified by the conference room ID is acquired from the conference room setting information DB 498, and it is determined whether the authentication key matches the authentication key transmitted from the conference room terminal 90. When the two authentication keys match, the initial setting unit 39 changes the state of the conference room terminal in the conference room setting information DB 498 to being connected.

S36: When the two authentication keys match, the management control unit 42 checks whether the management start flag is True and whether reservation information acquisition is requested. That is, the management start flag specified by the conference room ID is acquired from the conference room setting information DB 498, and it is determined whether or not it is True. If the conference room terminal 90 requests the reservation information from the conference management server 30 even once (further, the authentication keys match), and the management start flag is True, the management control unit 42 starts the management of the conference room. Therefore, first, the reservation information transmission unit 44 of the conference management server 30 transmits the reservation information. If check-in is not detected, the conference room reservation is automatically canceled.

When the authentication keys match but the management start flag is False, the management control unit 42 does not start management of the conference room. The reservation information transmitter 44 does not transmit reservation information. However, even when the management of the conference room is not started, the reservation information request unit 98-3 of the conference room terminal 90 continues to request the reservation information. This is because it is difficult to access the conference room terminal 90 from the external network, and therefore it is not possible to notify that the management start flag has become True, and it is preferable to communicate from the conference room terminal 90.

S37: The reservation information transmitting unit 44 of the conference management server 30 transmits the reservation information or the error (the authentication keys do not match or the management start flag is False) to the conference room terminal 90 via the communication unit 31. If the authentication key can be confirmed and the management start flag is True, reservation information is transmitted.

S38: The server communication unit 91 of the conference room terminal 90 receives the reservation information or the error. When the reservation information is transmitted, the conference room terminal 90 starts cooperation with the conference management server 30. If the authentication key cannot be confirmed or the management start flag is False, an error is sent. In this case, the cooperation is not started.

In this way, management is started and cooperation starts when both the management start flag is set to True and the reservation information acquisition request is detected. Management and cooperation can be started after the terminal 90 is placed in the conference room. If the reservation information acquisition request is only detected, the above-described inconvenience of the automatic cancellation occurs, and if the management start flag is set to True, the conference room terminal 90 is automatically canceled if the initial setting is not completed. There may be an inconvenience.

S39: When the reservation information requesting unit 98-3 of the conference room terminal 90 acquires the reservation information, the display control unit 94 displays the reservation information. When the error is received, the display control unit 94 displays, for example, that the reservation information cannot be displayed and the reason thereof.

S40: Since the terminal ID is transmitted together with the authentication information request, the terminal ID verification unit 43 of the conference management server 30 can determine whether the number of terminal IDs exceeds the number of conference room terminals that can be registered.

<Process when network failure occurs>
FIG. 15 is an example of a sequence diagram showing a process performed by the conference room terminal 90 when a network failure occurs.

S51, S52: When the conference room terminal 90 starts cooperation, the nearby wireless terminal searching unit 82 always accepts the connection from the nearby conference room terminal 90. In the case of the second communication means, since each conference room terminal 90 regularly transmits an advertisement packet, the nearby wireless terminal searching unit 82 searches by receiving the advertisement packet. Therefore, the conference room terminal 90 periodically switches the roles of the central and peripherals, transmits an advertisement packet when operating in the peripheral, and receives an advertisement packet when operating in the central. Even if the nearby wireless terminal searching unit 82 finds the nearby conference room terminal 90, it is only necessary to detect the presence and do not transmit/receive data.

S53: The conference room terminal 90A cannot connect to the network. Here, it is assumed that the conference room terminal 90B can be connected to the network but the conference room terminal 90A cannot be connected to the network. As a result, the display control unit 94 of the conference room terminal 90A displays an error screen (see FIG. 19B).

S54: The neighboring wireless terminal searching unit 82 of the conference room terminal 90A detects the neighboring conference room terminal 90B as in steps S51 and S52. In this case, it is assumed that the conference room terminal 90B will be the peripheral and the conference room terminal 90A will be the central, but the reverse is also possible.

S55: The conference room terminal 90B ends the advertisement when the conference room terminal 90A receives the advertisement packet, and transmits to the conference room terminal 90A what kind of service (profile) it has. As a result, the neighboring wireless terminal searching unit 82 of the conference room terminal 90A detects that the conference room terminal 90B supports a desired service (function of communicating with the conference management server 30). The conference room terminal 90A is connected to the conference room terminal 90B having a desired service, and the display control units 94 of the conference room terminal 90A and the conference room terminal 90B respectively display the screens during connection (see FIG. 19C). To do.

S56: The neighboring wireless terminal relay unit 83 of the conference room terminal 90A transmits the diagnostic information to the conference room terminal 90B via the adjacent terminal communication unit 94-3. The diagnostic information will be described later.

S57: The neighboring wireless terminal relay unit 83 of the conference room terminal 90B receives the diagnostic information from the conference room terminal 90A via the adjacent terminal communication unit 94-3. The neighboring wireless terminal relay unit 83 of the conference room terminal 90B holds the identification information (for example, Bluetooth Device Address) of the conference room terminal 90A that has transmitted the diagnostic information in the adjacent terminal communication unit 94-3. This is because the operation information of the remote operation will be transmitted later.

S58: The neighboring wireless terminal relay unit 83 of the conference room terminal 90B adds “notifier terminal information” to the diagnostic information. The notification terminal information may be information that can identify the conference room terminal 90B, such as the terminal ID of the conference room terminal 90B.

S59: The server communication unit 91 of the conference room terminal 90B transfers the diagnostic information to the conference management server 30.

Since the conference management server 30 does not request the reservation information from the conference room terminal 90A for a certain period of time or longer, the disconnection of the conference room terminal 90A is detected. The disconnection can also be detected by receiving the diagnostic information from the conference room terminal 90B.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of the content of diagnostic information. The diagnostic information is information for notifying the conference management server 30 that a network failure has occurred in the conference room terminal 90. The diagnostic information includes a faulty terminal ID, an infrastructure state, and a terminal ID of a notification person.
Faulty terminal ID: the terminal ID of the conference room terminal 90 that cannot connect to the network (in the case of one conference room terminal, the conference room ID may be used)
Infrastructure status... This is the reason why you cannot connect to the network (1. Wi-Fi above is off, 2. Wi-Fi is not connected)
Terminal ID of the contactor... 90 terminal ID of the conference room terminal that can be connected to the network and has notified the terminal information of the contactor (in the case of one conference room, one terminal may be the conference room ID)
<Executing remote operation information>
FIG. 17 is an example of a sequence diagram showing a procedure in which the registration terminal 50 executes the operation information of the remote operation.

S61: The administrator operates the registration terminal 50 to communicate with the conference management server 30. The operation receiving unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 receives this operation, and the communication unit 51 transmits a display request for the setting screen 501 to the conference management server 30.

S62: The reception unit 31b of the conference management server receives the display request, and the setting screen generating unit 391 generates screen information of the setting screen. The transmission unit 31a of the conference management server transmits the screen information of the setting screen to the registration terminal 50. As described above, the conference room terminal 90A is "disconnected".

S63: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 receives the screen information of the setting screen, and the display control unit 53 displays the setting screen 501 shown in FIG. Diagnostic information is associated with the conference room terminal 90A in the setting screen, and the administrator can display the diagnostic information by clicking the disconnected conference room terminal 90A with a mouse.

To connect the conference room terminal 90A to the network, the administrator designates the conference room terminal 90A and inputs a remote operation. The operation receiving unit 52 receives an input of remote operation. The communication unit 51 transmits operation information of remote operation to the conference management server 30.

S64: The reception unit 31b of the conference management server receives the operation information of the remote operation, and the remote operation unit 45 transmits the operation information of the remote operation to the conference room terminal 90B. The remote control unit 45 identifies the terminal ID of the adviser described in the diagnostic information of the conference room terminal 90A designated by the remote operation, and the operation information of the remote operation is displayed on the meeting room terminal 90B indicated by the terminal ID of the adviser. To send. As a result, even if the conference room terminal 90A cannot connect to the network, it can be transmitted to the adjacent conference room terminal 90B.

S65: The server communication unit 91 of the conference room terminal 90B receives the operation information of the remote operation, and the nearby wireless terminal relay unit 83 transmits the operation information of the remote operation to the conference room terminal 90A that has transmitted the diagnostic information. The identification information (for example, Bluetooth Device Address) in the adjacent terminal communication unit 94-3 of the conference room terminal 90A that transmitted the diagnostic information is held.

S66: The neighboring wireless terminal relay unit 83 of the conference room terminal 90A receives the operation information of the remote operation, and the operation information execution unit 84 executes the operation information of the remote operation.

As described above, even if the conference room terminal 90A cannot connect to the network, the administrator can remotely connect to the network.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of operation information of remote operation. The operation information of the remote operation is called an instruction or command described at a level at which a specific operation can be performed. The remote control unit 45 of the conference management server may perform a process of converting the content of the remote control set by the administrator into a command or command suitable for the conference room terminal 90.

<Screen example displayed by conference room terminal>
FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed by the conference room terminal. FIG. 19A is an example of a screen in a state where no network failure has occurred. Such a screen is called a standby screen 550. The standby screen 550 has a conference room name 551, a current conference room status 552, a next reservation status 553, a future reservation status 554, a conference room immediate use button 555, and the like.

FIG. 19B is an example of the error screen 514 when a network failure occurs. On the error screen 514, an error message 512 “Check terminal settings” and an error code 513 are displayed, and the user can notify the support of the error code 513. The administrator can identify the approximate cause from the error code.

FIG. 19C is an example of the screen 531 during connection with another terminal. This is a screen in which the conference room terminals 90A and 90B are communicating and are being restored. On the connecting screen 531 is displayed a message 532 “Recovery by remote connection”. As a result, it can be seen that the user is currently communicating with another conference room terminal 90 and an attempt is made to recover. However, the screen shown in FIG. 19C may not be displayed even during restoration.

<Summary>
As described above, when one of the conference room terminals 90A and 90B cannot communicate with the conference management server 30 due to the occurrence of a network failure, diagnostic information is provided by utilizing the communication function of the normal conference room terminal 90A or 90B. Since the information is transmitted to the conference management server 30, the conference management server 30 can detect that a failure has occurred in the network. Further, since the administrator can remotely operate the conference room terminal 90, the service can be provided even if the administrator does not go to the conference room.

<Other application examples>
The best mode for carrying out the present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. And substitutions can be added.

For example, the display connected to the conference management server 30 may display the image code instead of the registration terminal 50 displaying the image code. The terminal displaying the image code does not have to be the registration terminal 50.

For example, although the communication setting information is encoded in the image code in the present embodiment, the communication setting information may be transmitted from the registration terminal 50 to the conference room terminal 90 by one-to-one short-range communication wireless communication. For example, it may be transmitted by Bluetooth (registered trademark), NFC (Near Filed Communication), infrared communication, visible light communication, or the like.

A plurality of conference management servers 30 may exist, or the functions of the conference management server 30 may be distributed among the plurality of servers. Further, the reservation management server 20 and the conference management server 30 may be integrated.

The communication system 100 of this embodiment can also be called a Web service. Web services are various services provided by applying Internet-related technologies. For example, a conference room lending service and various rental services can be cited. A system that uses a Web service is called a usage system.

Further, the configuration examples of FIGS. 6 and 7 shown in the above embodiments are divided according to the main functions in order to facilitate understanding of the processing of the communication system 100. However, the present invention is not limited by the division method or name of each processing unit. The communication system 100 can be divided into more processing units according to the processing content. Also, one processing unit can be divided so as to include more processing.

Each function of the embodiments described above can be realized by one or a plurality of processing circuits. Here, the "processing circuit" in the present specification is a processor programmed to execute each function by software, such as a processor implemented by an electronic circuit, or designed to execute each function described above. Devices such as ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), DSPs (digital signal processors), FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays), and conventional circuit modules are included.

For example, the conference room terminal 90 is, for example, an output device such as a PJ (Projector: projector), an IWB (Interactive White Board: a white board having an electronic blackboard function capable of mutual communication), a digital signage, and a HUD (Head Up Display). ) Devices, industrial machines, imaging devices, sound collectors, medical devices, network home appliances, notebook PCs (Personal Computers), mobile phones, smartphones, tablet terminals, game consoles, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), digital cameras, wearable PCs or It may be a desktop PC or the like.

6 meeting room 10 chat server 20 reservation management server 30 meeting management server 60 terminal device 70 electronic device 90 conference room terminal 100 resource reservation system

JP-A-2007-142647

Claims (11)

A communication system in which an information processing terminal having two or more communication means and an information processing apparatus communicate via a network,
The information processing terminal,
A connection failure detection unit that detects that the network cannot be connected,
A nearby wireless terminal search unit that wirelessly searches for other information processing terminals in the vicinity,
When the connection failure detection unit detects that the network cannot be connected, the diagnostic information including the fact that the network cannot be connected is transmitted to the other information processing terminal searched by the neighboring wireless terminal search unit. And a nearby wireless terminal relay unit that relays the diagnostic information to the information processing device,
A communication system comprising: The information processing device causes a registration terminal to display that the information processing terminal cannot connect to the network, based on the diagnostic information received from the other information processing terminal. The described communication system. The information processing apparatus includes a remote operation unit that receives operation information for operating the information processing terminal from the registration terminal and transmits the operation information to the information processing terminal via the other information processing terminal. The communication system according to claim 2. The other information processing terminal is
The communication system according to claim 3, further comprising: a neighboring wireless terminal relay unit that transmits the operation information received from the information processing device to the information processing terminal that transmitted the diagnostic information. The information processing terminal,
The communication system according to claim 4, further comprising an operation information execution unit that executes the operation information received from the other information processing terminal. The information processing terminal,
6. The display control unit according to claim 1, further comprising a display control unit that displays on the screen that the connection failure cannot be connected to the network when the connection failure detection unit detects that the network cannot be connected to the network. The communication system according to item 1. When the neighboring wireless terminal relay unit is communicating with the other information processing terminal,
The communication system according to claim 6, wherein the display control unit displays on the screen that the information processing terminal is communicating with the other information processing terminal. The information processing terminal is arranged in the conference room,
A reservation information request unit for requesting reservation information regarding reservation of the conference room to the information processing apparatus and acquiring the reservation information from the information processing apparatus;
The display control unit displays the reservation information on the standby screen,
The connection failure detection unit detects that the reservation information request unit cannot acquire the reservation information and thus cannot connect to the network,
The communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the neighboring wireless terminal relay unit transmits the diagnostic information to the information processing terminal arranged in an adjacent conference room. A failure detection method performed by a communication system in which an information processing terminal having two or more communication means and an information processing apparatus communicate via a network,
The information processing terminal,
A step of detecting that the connection failure detection unit cannot connect to the network,
The neighboring wireless terminal searching unit wirelessly searches for other information processing terminals in the vicinity,
When the connection failure detection unit detects that it cannot connect to the network, the neighboring wireless terminal relay unit cannot connect to the network to the other information processing terminal searched by the neighboring wireless terminal search unit. Transmitting diagnostic information including a message, and relaying the diagnostic information to the information processing device,
A fault detection method comprising: An information processing terminal that communicates with an information processing apparatus via a network and has two or more communication means,
A connection failure detection unit that detects that the network cannot be connected,
A nearby wireless terminal search unit that wirelessly searches for other information processing terminals in the vicinity,
When the connection failure detection unit detects that the network cannot be connected, the diagnostic information including the fact that the network cannot be connected is transmitted to the other information processing terminal searched by the neighboring wireless terminal search unit. And a nearby wireless terminal relay unit that relays the diagnostic information to the information processing device,
An information processing terminal comprising: An information processing terminal that communicates with an information processing apparatus via a network and has two or more communication means,
A connection failure detection unit that detects that the network cannot be connected,
A nearby wireless terminal search unit that wirelessly searches for other information processing terminals in the vicinity,
When the connection failure detection unit detects that the network cannot be connected, the diagnostic information including the fact that the network cannot be connected is transmitted to the other information processing terminal searched by the neighboring wireless terminal search unit. A neighboring wireless terminal relay unit that relays the diagnostic information to the information processing device,
Program to function as.