JP2005032078A - Communication program and communication method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To ensure the grouping of a plurality of client computers and an occasional change in constituting members of each group. <P>SOLUTION: The communication program makes a server computer capable of transmitting and receiving information with a plurality of client computers function as the following means: (1) an IP address storage means for storing a first user ID and first IP address, and a second user ID and second IP address in association with each other, respectively; (2) a receiving means for receiving first grouping start information addressed to a server including the first user ID, the second user ID and a first group ID; (3) an ID storage means for storing the first user ID and the second user ID in association with the first group ID; and (4) an information generation means for generating grouping start information addressed to a first user with the first IP address as a destination address and the second user ID as transmitting data, and generating grouping start information addressed to a second user with the second IP address as a destination address and the first user ID as transmitting data. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication program and a communication method that allow a plurality of client computers to be grouped to have a conversation between group members and allow an administrator to monitor the conversation between the members.

A technology related to an education system using computer communication having both advantages of personal education and group education is disclosed (for example, see Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-92341 (FIG. 1)

  However, in the above prior art, the learners are divided into a plurality of groups, the members of each group can be changed as needed, and conversations can be made among the members of each group. A technology to send messages from is required.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and a communication program and communication that enable such grouping, change of members of each group as needed, conversation between members, and message transmission from an administrator The purpose is to provide a method.

  A first feature of the present invention is a communication program, in which a server computer capable of transmitting / receiving information to / from a plurality of client computers is configured by: (1) a first user ID and a first IP address of a first user; IP address storage means for storing the second user ID and the second IP address in association with each other, (2) the server address including the first user ID, the second user ID, and the first group ID of the first group Information receiving means for receiving 1 grouping start information; (3) ID storage means for storing the first user ID and the second user ID in association with the first group ID; (4) the first IP address; Reading from the IP address storage means as the destination address, the second user ID as the transmission data, and the first user grouping start information And (5) function as information generation means for reading the second IP address from the IP address storage means and using it as a destination address, and generating grouping start information addressed to the second user using the first user ID as transmission data. It is in.

When generating user grouping start information, IP address acquisition is
Read the first user ID from the first grouping start information addressed to the server,
The first IP address associated with the first user ID may be read from the IP address storage means, or the first group ID is read from the server first grouping start information,
Reading out the first user ID associated with the first group ID from the ID storage means;
The first IP address associated with the first user ID may be read from the IP address storage unit.

  According to the first feature, (1) the first user belonging to the first group is notified of the user ID of the second user belonging to the same first group, and (2) the second user belonging to the first group is notified. The user ID of the first user belonging to the same first group is notified.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, (1) the IP address storage unit is further stored in association with a third user ID of the third user and a third IP address, and (2) the information reception unit is further Means for receiving server-added member addition information including information indicating that a third user is added to the first group; (3) the server computer further comprising the third user ID and the first group ID; ID association changing means for adding association to the ID storage means; (4) the information generating means; and (4-1) reading the first IP address from the IP address storage means as a destination address; The member addition information for the first user is generated using the ID as transmission data, and (4-2) the second IP address is read from the IP address storage means. To generate a second user member additional information using the third user ID as transmission data, and (4-3) reading out the third IP address from the IP address storage means as the destination address, The first user ID is read from the ID storage means and functions as means for generating member addition information for the third user as transmission data.

When generating user-added member addition information, obtaining an IP address
-Read the first group ID from the server member addition information,
Reading out the first and second user IDs associated with the first group ID from the ID storage means;
The first and second IP addresses associated with the first and second user IDs may be read from the IP address storage means, and the third user ID is read from the server-added member addition information,
Reading out the first and second user IDs associated with the third user ID from the ID storage means;
The first IP address associated with the first and second user IDs may be read from the IP address storage unit.

  According to the second feature, (1) the first and second users belonging to the first group are notified of the addition of the third user, and (2) the first user belonging to the same first group is notified to the third user. The presence of two users is notified.

A third feature of the present invention is that a server computer capable of transmitting / receiving information to / from a plurality of client computers is: (1) a first user ID and first IP address of a first user, a second user ID of a second user and a second user ID; 2 IP addresses, IP address storage means for storing the third user ID and the third IP address of the third user in association with each other, (2) the first user ID, the second user ID, and the third user ID as the first ID storage means for storing in association with the first group ID of the group; (3) information receiving means for receiving server-destined member deletion information including information indicating that the third user is deleted from the first group; 4-1) The first IP address is read from the IP address storage means and used as a destination address, indicating that the third user is deleted. Information about the first user as a transmission data, and (4-2) reading out the second IP address from the IP address storage means as a transmission destination address, and deleting the third user. (2) the third user address is deleted from the IP address storage means by using the information shown as transmission data, and the third user is deleted. Information generating means for generating member deletion information addressed to the third user using the information indicating the transmission data, (5) ID association change for deleting the association between the third user ID and the first group ID from the ID storage means means,
It is to function as.

When generating user-addressed member deletion information, obtaining an IP address
・ Read the first group ID from the server member deletion information,
Reading out the first and second user IDs associated with the first group ID from the ID storage means;
The first and second IP addresses associated with the first and second user IDs may be read from the IP address storage means, and the third user ID is read from the server member deletion information,
Reading out the first and second user IDs associated with the third user ID from the ID storage means;
The first and second IP addresses associated with the first and second user IDs may be read from the IP address storage unit.

  According to the third feature, (1) the first and second users belonging to the first group are notified of the deletion of the third user, and (2) the third user is notified of the deletion from the first group. The

  The fourth feature of the present invention is that: (1) the information receiving means, (1-1) first message information addressed to the server including the first user ID and the first message data; Means for receiving the second message information addressed to the server including the second user ID and the second message data; (2) reading the information generating means; and (2-1) reading the first IP address from the IP address storage means. First destination message information is generated using the second message data as transmission data, and (2-2) the second IP address is read from the IP address storage means as the destination address, and the first message data is used as the destination address. To function as means for generating message information addressed to the second user as transmission data.

When generating the message information addressed to the user, for example, the acquisition of the IP address is performed by:
Reading out the second user ID associated with the first user ID from the ID storage means;
Read the second IP address associated with the second user ID from the IP address storage means.

  According to the fourth feature, (1) the utterance of the first user is notified to the second user belonging to the same group as the first user, and (2) the utterance of the second user is the same group as the second user. To the first user belonging to.

  The fifth feature of the present invention is that (1) the IP address storage means further stores the administrator's IP address, (2) the information generation means further (2-1) the administrator's IP The address is read from the IP address storage means and used as a destination address, the first message data is used as transmission data, and message information addressed to the first administrator is generated. (2-2) The administrator's IP address is stored in the IP address storage It is made to function as a means which reads out from a means, makes it a destination address, produces | generates the remark information addressed to a 2nd administrator by making the said 2nd message data into transmission data.

  According to the fifth feature, the first utterance data of the first user and the second utterance data of the second user are notified to the administrator.

  The sixth feature of the present invention is that (1) the computer is further (1-1) a first coordinate value in the virtual space of the first avatar associated with the first user ID, and the second user ID. Coordinate value storage means for storing the second coordinate value in the virtual space of the second avatar associated with the (1), from the coordinate value storage means, the first coordinate value and the second coordinate value; And calculating means for calculating a distance between the first avatar and the second avatar based on the first coordinate value and the second coordinate value, and (1-3) comparing the distance with a predetermined value. And (2) the packet generation means further indicates that the distance is less than or equal to a predetermined value or less than a predetermined value. Receive information from the comparison means Only some to function as means for generating the user addressed speech packet when Tsu.

  According to the sixth feature, the utterance data is transmitted and received between the first user and the second user only when the distance between the first avatar and the second avatar in the virtual space is equal to or less than the predetermined value or less than the predetermined value. The

  According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, (1) the information receiving means is further configured. (1-1) means for receiving server-destined message information including information indicating all groups or a predetermined group ID and message data; (2 And (2-1) when the server-addressed message information includes information indicating all groups, the IP address of all users is read from the IP address storage unit and used as a destination address. Message information addressed to all users is generated using the message data as transmission data. (2-2) When information indicating a predetermined group ID is included in the message information addressed to the server, it is associated with the predetermined group ID. An IP address further associated with the associated user ID is read from the IP address storage means and a destination address And lies in the functioning of the said message data means for generating a predetermined user addressed message information as the transmission data as.

  According to the seventh feature, message data is transmitted only to users belonging to a predetermined group or to all users.

  As described above, according to the communication program and the communication method of the present invention, a group composed of two or more members can be formed, and chats among members belonging to the same group can be performed.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in the client server system used in the present embodiment, a large number of client computers 10 can access the server 13 via a communication line such as the Internet 8 to which a LAN, WAN, public line or the like is connected. The client 10 and the server 13 perform data transmission / reception according to HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) and UDP (User Datagram Protocol).

  There are two types of clients 10, a teacher-side client 11 and a student-side client 12. Each of the clients 10 is installed with a Web browser, receives various information files such as screen configuration information stored in the information file storage device 16 and distributed from the Web server 14, and the screen of the display device according to the information files. Can display virtual space and avatars. The client 10 can also receive a moving image file or the like stored in the moving image file storage device 17 and distributed from the media server 15 and display the moving image on the display device. Here, “avatar” refers to a character that operates as a user's alternation in a virtual space.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the client 10 and the server 13 used in the present embodiment are each a central processing unit (CPU) 21 that is a control unit that performs overall control via a bus 20, a communication device 22, A read only memory (ROM) 23 for storing a basic input / output system (BIOS), a random access memory (RAM) 24 having a program area and a data area, and a hard disk for storing an operation system (OS), a communication program, and the like A drive (HDD) 25 and a recording medium drive 26 for controlling an external recording medium are provided. The external storage medium includes a compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM), a flexible disk (FD), a magneto-optical disk (MO), a mini disk (MD), a digital video disk (DVD), and the like. The program and data may be loaded from the external recording medium or HDD 25 to the RAM 24 and executed. The client 10 also includes an input device 27 such as a keyboard used for inputting speech and the like, and a display device 28 such as a CRT display, a liquid crystal display, a plasma display, and an EL display for displaying a 3D space. Stores a Web browser. Note that these components are merely examples.

  As shown in FIG. 3, when the program of this embodiment is read into the Web server 14 having the hardware configuration illustrated in FIG. 2, a packet receiving unit 31, a packet generating unit 32, a packet transmitting unit 33, and an ID association changing unit. 34, an information processing apparatus having specific means such as a calculation means 35, a comparison means 36, an IP address storage means 37, an ID storage means 38, and a coordinate value storage means 39 is constructed. Note that the IP address storage unit 37, the ID storage unit 38, and the coordinate value storage unit 39 do not need to be physically separate storage devices, but physically, an IP address storage area and an ID storage area are stored in one storage device. A coordinate value storage area may be provided.

(First embodiment)
In the first embodiment, members constituting the group are determined in the teacher-side client 11, and the determined contents are notified to the student-side clients 12a and 12b.

  First, the IP address storage unit 37 shown in FIG. 3 will be described.

The IP address storage means 37
A first user ID and a first IP address of the first user,
A second user ID and a second IP address of the second user,
Are stored in association with each other. For example,
Storing the first user ID in the user ID field of the first record and the first IP address in the IP address field;
Storing the second user ID in the user ID field of the second record and the second IP address in the IP address field;
The IP address storage means 37 further includes a third user ID and a third IP address of the third user,
A fourth user ID and a fourth IP address of the fourth user,
Are stored in association with each other. For example,
Storing the third user ID in the user ID field of the third record and the third IP address in the IP address field;
Store the fourth user ID in the user ID field of the fourth record and the fourth IP address in the IP address field.

  The packet receiving means 31 receives the first grouping start packet addressed to the server including the first user ID, the second user ID, and the first group ID of the first group. The server-addressed first grouping start packet is transmitted from the teacher-side client 11.

  The packet receiving unit 31 further receives a second packet addressed to the server including the third user ID, the fourth user ID, and the second group ID of the second group. The second packet addressed to the server is also transmitted from the teacher-side client 11.

  The ID storage unit 38 stores the first user ID and the second user ID read from the server-addressed first grouping start packet in association with the first group ID read from the server-addressed first grouping start packet. . For example, it is stored as one record including a group ID field for storing the first group ID and a user ID field for storing the first user ID and the second user ID.

  The ID storage means 38 further stores the third user ID and the fourth user ID read from the server-addressed second packet in association with the second group ID read from the server-addressed second packet. For example, it is stored as one record including a group ID field for storing the second group ID and a user ID field for storing the third user ID and the fourth user ID.

  The packet generation means 32 reads (1) the first IP address associated with the first user ID from the IP address storage means 37 as the destination address, and stores the second user ID associated with the first user ID as the ID address. A grouping start packet addressed to the first user is generated as transmission data read out from the means 38, and (2) the second IP address associated with the second user ID is read out from the IP address storage means 37 as a destination address, and the second user The first user ID associated with the ID is read from the ID storage means 38, and a packet addressed to the second user is generated as transmission data.

  The packet generation means 32 further reads out (3) the third IP address associated with the third user ID from the IP address storage means 37 as the destination address, and sets the fourth user ID associated with the third user ID as the ID. A packet addressed to the third user is generated as transmission data by reading from the storage means 38, and (4) a fourth IP address associated with the fourth user ID is read from the IP address storage means 37 as a destination address, and the fourth user ID The third user ID associated with is read from the ID storage means 38 and a fourth user-addressed packet is generated as transmission data.

  The packet transmission unit 33 transmits the first user-addressed grouping start packet and the second user-addressed packet generated by the packet generation unit 32. The grouping start packet addressed to the first user is transmitted to the student-side client 12a of the first user, and the packet addressed to the second user is transmitted to the student-side client 12b of the second user.

  The packet transmission unit 33 further transmits the third user-addressed packet and the fourth user-addressed packet generated by the packet generation unit 32. The packet addressed to the third user is transmitted to the student-side client 12c of the third user, and the packet addressed to the fourth user is transmitted to the student-side client 12d of the fourth user.

  Next, the contents of transmission / reception among the teacher-side client 11, the Web server 14, and the student-side client 12 will be outlined.

As shown in FIG. 4, the Web server 14 first receives a grouping start packet from the teacher-side client 11 (Y101),
-A grouping start packet is transmitted to each student side client 12a-d (Y103-9).

The grouping start packet transmitted to the student-side client includes information indicating the start of grouping and user IDs of other students belonging to the same group. In particular,
-The grouping start packet transmitted to the student side client 12a includes the user ID of the second student,
-The grouping start packet transmitted to the student side client 12b includes the user ID of the first student,
-The grouping start packet transmitted to the student side client 12c includes the user ID of the fourth student,
The grouping start packet transmitted to the student-side client 12d includes the third student's user ID.
As a result, each of the student-side clients 12a to 12d recognizes the user IDs of students belonging to the same group as the student client 12a to 12d.

Subsequently, the Web server 14 receives the server-addressed message packet from the student-side client 12a (Y111).
-Sending a message packet addressed to the student including the user ID of the first student and the content of the message to the student-side client 12b (Y113),
The teacher-side client 11 is also sent a teacher-addressed message packet including the user ID of the first student and the content of the message (Y115).

  As a result, the content of the message transmitted from the student-side client 12a can be displayed as the first student's message on the screen of the display device of the student-side client 12b and the screen of the display device of the teacher-side client 11.

Subsequently, the Web server 14 receives the server addressed packet from the student-side client 12b (Y117),
-Sending a message packet addressed to the student including the user ID of the second student and the content of the message to the student side client 12a (Y119),
-The user ID of the second student and the content of the message are also transmitted to the teacher-side client 11 (Y121).

  As a result, the content of the message transmitted from the student-side client 12b can be displayed as the second student's message on the screen of the display device of the student-side client 12a and the screen of the display device of the teacher-side client 11.

  In this way, a conversation is established between the first student and the second student belonging to the same first group, and the teacher can monitor the conversation.

As shown in FIG. 4, the Web server 14 subsequently receives the server-addressed message packet from the student-side client 12c (Y123), and the student-side client 12d includes the third student user ID and the content of the message. While sending a message packet addressed (Y125),
-The user ID of the third student and the content of the message are also transmitted to the teacher-side client 11 (Y127).

  As a result, the content of the message transmitted from the student-side client 12c can be displayed as the third student's message on the screen of the display device of the student-side client 12d and the screen of the display device of the teacher-side client 11.

Subsequently, the Web server 14 receives the server-addressed message packet from the student-side client 12d (Y129), and transmits a student-addressed message packet including the user ID of the fourth student and the content of the message to the student-side client 12c. (Y131),
The user ID of the fourth student and the content of the message are transmitted to the teacher side client 11 (Y133).

  As a result, the content of the message transmitted from the student-side client 12d can be displayed as the fourth student's message on the screen of the display device of the student-side client 12c and the screen of the display device of the teacher-side client 11.

  In this way, a conversation is established between the third student and the fourth student belonging to the same second group, and the teacher can monitor the conversation.

Although not shown in FIG. 4, the server and each student-side client constantly transmit and receive the avatar position information and angle information in order to maintain the real-time property regarding the avatar position information. That means
The student-side client 12 transmits the avatar position information and angle information to the Web server 14,
When the web server 14 receives the avatar position information and angle information, it immediately returns the avatar position information and angle information to the student-side client computer 12.
When the student-side client 12 receives the reply from the Web server 14, the student-side client 12 immediately transmits new position information and angle information of the avatar to the Web server 14 again.

  The position information of the avatar means (x coordinate value, y coordinate value, z coordinate value) in the virtual space, and the angle information of the avatar means the direction in which the line of sight of the avatar faces in the virtual space.

  Based on FIG. 5, the flow of processing in the teacher-side client will be described.

  In step S101, the world to be grouped (grouping execution space) and the minimum number of people per group are selected, and the contents are stored in a storage means (not shown).

  As shown in FIG. 6, for example, “Virtual Campus” is selected using a radio button from “Virtual Campus”, “Rothenburg”, and “Paris” in the “World Selection” window W111, and the “Group Minimum” window is displayed. Using the pull-down menu of W113, “2 people” is selected as the minimum number of groups.

  A grouping method is then selected. For example, (1) the teacher client user allocates members belonging to the selected space to any of a plurality of groups (manual allocation), or (2) the allocation means automatically allocates (automatic allocation) One of the methods is selected.

  For example, the automatic allocation means sorts the students in the order of login time, and allocates two students to each group in order from the person who logged in earlier. Alternatively, a predetermined number may be assigned to each group in the order of pre-registered grades, or higher graders and lower graders may be assigned to each group almost equally. For example, when 9 students are assigned to 3 groups of 3 students, the students with grades of 1, 6 and 8 are assigned to the first group. , 4 and 9 are assigned to the second group, and 3rd, 5th and 7th students are assigned to the third group.

  In step S103, as many groups as necessary are created, and the contents are stored in the storage means. If the number of students is not divisible by the number of groups, the number of students belonging to each group may not be uniform. In such a case, the surplus students may be allocated to any group. For example, when the number of students is 10 and the number of groups is 3, there are two groups of three students and one group of four students.

As shown in the “Group List” window W121 of FIG. 7, for example, regarding the selection space “Virtual Campus”,
・ Group 1 is created
-O 1 (first student) and O 2 (second student) are assigned to the group 1.

  One or a plurality of attendees displayed in the “attendance” window W123 of the “member list” are selected, and then the “add” button B121 is clicked. Is added to the “list” window W121. Also, one or more participants are selected from the participants displayed in the “group list” window W121, and then the “delete” button B123 is clicked, so that the selected attendee becomes the “group list”. It is deleted from the window W121.

  As a result of the above operation, for example, the following contents are stored in the storage means.

Space ID = 01, group ID = 01, user ID = 0001, event type = JOIN
Space ID = 01, group ID = 01, user ID = 0002, event type = JOIN
Here, the event type is “JOIN” when joining the group, and “LEAVE” when leaving the group.

  In step S105, a grouping start instruction is input, and a grouping start packet is generated. The input of the grouping start instruction is, for example, that a “grouping start” button B125 shown in FIG. 7 is clicked.

In the grouping start packet,
-Grouping start information for instructing the start of grouping,
ID of the virtual space where grouping is performed,
-ID of the group to be created,
・ ID of students in each group
Is included. For example,
Space ID = 01, group ID = 01, user ID = 0001,0002, event type = JOIN
Is included.

If a second group of users with user IDs 0003 and 0004 is created,
Space ID = 01, group ID = 02, user ID = 0003,0004, event type = JOIN
Is included.

  In step S107, the generated grouping start packet is transmitted to the Web server.

  This is the end of the explanation regarding the group creation in the teacher client 11. Next, chat monitoring in the teacher client 11 will be described.

  In step S109, a chat monitoring screen is activated, and in step S111, a monitoring group is selected.

  As shown in FIG. 8, the chat monitoring screen includes, for example, a “transmission target” window W131, a “message transmission” window W133, a “group list” window W135, a “group member” window W137, a “monitoring group” window W139, “ A message selection / registration button B131, a “send” button B133, an “add” button B135, an “add all” button B137, a “delete” button 139, and a “delete all” button 141 are displayed. The “transmission target” window W131, the “message transmission” window W133, the “message selection / registration” button B131, and the “transmission” button B133 will be described in the fourth embodiment.

  The “group list” window W135 displays chat monitoring candidate groups. When “add” button B135 is clicked, a selected group among the groups displayed in “group list” window W135 is added to “monitoring group” window W139. When the “Add all” button B137 is clicked, all the groups displayed in the “Group list” window W135 are added to the “Monitoring group” window W139.

  In the “group member” window W137, members of the group selected from the groups displayed in the “group list” window W135 are displayed, and are referred to when determining the group to be monitored.

  When “delete” button B139 is clicked, a group selected from the groups displayed in “monitoring group” window W139 is deleted from “monitoring group” window W139. When the “delete all” button B141 is clicked, all groups displayed in the “monitoring group” window W139 are deleted from the “monitoring group” window W139.

  In step S113, the communication means receives the message packet addressed to the teacher. The message content of the received message packet is stored in the storage means in association with the user ID of the speaker and the group ID of the group to which the speaker belongs.

For example, user ID = 001, group ID = 01, statement content = “How are you?”
Are stored as one record.

  In step S115, the content of the message for each chat group is displayed on the screen of the display device together with the handle name of the speaker.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the chat monitoring screen displays, for example, an “all chat” window W141 and a “group” window W143.

The “Group 1” window W143 displays the handle names of the members belonging to the group 1 and the content of the remarks in association with each other. For example, only messages that satisfy the condition of group ID = 01 are read from the storage means, and the handle name and message content are displayed on the screen of the display device. In particular,
・ First handle name: “How are you?”
Second handle name: “I'm fine.”
Or
・ "How are you?" (First handle name)
"I'm fine." (Second handle name)
It is displayed in the format.

The “all chat” window W141 displays the handle names of all members belonging to each group and the content of the remarks in association with each other. All messages are read from the storage means, and the group ID, handle name, and message content are displayed on the screen of the display device. The utterances of users belonging to group ID = 01 and the utterances of users belonging to group ID = 02 are also displayed. For example,
・ Group 1, first handle name: “How are you?”
Group 2, third handle name: “I am hungry.”
Group 1, second handle name: “I'm fine.”
Group 2, 4th handle name: “I too”
Group 1, first handle name: “That was good.”
Group 2, third handle name: “Now, let ’s go eat ramen.”
In this way, in order to display the speech of all groups, the speech of the third user of group 2 may be displayed between the speech of the first user of group 1 and the speech of the second user of group 1. .

  This completes the explanation of the teacher-side client 11 from grouping to chat monitoring.

It is also possible to divide and display a chat display window for each group. For example, after designating the number of display windows using the pull-down menu M145 for designating the number of display windows, clicking the “Display” button B147 changes the screen to a state where a predetermined number of windows are displayed. For example,
(1) When the number of display windows “4” is designated, vertically long windows are displayed side by side in 4 columns.

  (2) When the number of display windows “8” is specified, windows of approximately the same size as a vertically long window divided into two vertically are displayed in 2 rows and 4 columns when the number of display windows is “4”. To do.

  (3) When the number of display windows “16” is designated, windows having a size that is approximately the same size as the vertically divided window when the number of display windows is “8” are displayed in 4 rows and 4 columns.

  (4) When the number of display windows “32” is specified, windows having a size approximately the same as the size of the window when the number of display windows is “16” divided vertically into two are arranged in 8 rows and 4 columns.

Next, processing in the Web server 14 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 10, first, in step S201, the Web server 14 receives the grouping start packet from the teacher-side client by the packet receiving unit 31.
In step S203, the ID storage means 38 stores the group ID of the group included / created in the grouping start packet in association with the user ID of the student belonging to each group. Note that the user ID of each student and the IP address are stored in advance in the IP address storage unit 37 in association with each other.

In step S205, the packet generator 32 creates a student grouping start packet according to the information received from the teacher-side client. Specifically: The first IP address associated with the first user ID is read from the IP address storage means 37,
The second user ID associated with the first user ID is read from the ID storage means 38;
A student grouping start packet is created with the first IP address as the destination address and the second user ID as the transmission data.

Similarly,
The second IP address associated with the second user ID is read from the IP address storage means 37,
The first user ID associated with the second user ID is read from the ID storage means 38;
A student grouping start packet having the second IP address as the destination address and the first user ID as the transmission data is generated.

  In step S207, the packet transmission unit 33 transmits the created student grouping start packet. As a result, the student grouping start packet with the second user ID as transmission data is transmitted to the first user student client 12a, and the student grouping start packet with the first user ID as transmission data is transmitted to the student of the second user. Is transmitted to the side client 12b.

  The above is the flow of processing from when the Web server 14 receives the grouping start packet addressed to the server until it transmits the grouping start packet addressed to the student.

  Next, the flow of processing from when the Web server 14 receives the server-addressed message packet to when the teacher-side client-addressed message packet and the student-side client-addressed message packet are transmitted will be described.

  In step S209, the packet receiving unit 31 receives the first and second message packets addressed to the server from the student-side client 12. The first message packet addressed to the server includes the first user ID of the first student who is the speaker and the first message data, and the second message packet addressed to the server is the second message packet of the second student who is the speaker. 2 user ID and 2nd speech data shall be included.

  Since each user ID and the IP address of the user are stored in the IP address storage unit 37 in association with each other, even if the user ID of the speaker is not included in the received packet addressed to the server, the transmission source IP The address may be extracted, and the user ID of the speaker may be derived from the source IP address.

  In step S211, the packet generation unit 32 generates a message packet addressed to the teacher. Specifically, (1) the IP address storage means 37 stores the teacher's IP address as an administrator in advance, (2) the packet generation means 32 (2-1) the teacher's IP address from the IP address storage means 37 Read the IP address as the destination address, read out the first message data from the first message packet addressed to the server and generate a message packet addressed to the first teacher as transmission data, and (2-2) the IP address of the teacher from the IP address storage means 37 The address is read out as the destination address, the second message data is read out from the second message packet addressed to the server, and the message packet addressed to the second teacher is generated as the transmission data.

  In the generation of the message packet addressed to the teacher, message data is extracted from the message packet addressed to the server and is used as transmission data. The destination address is always the teacher's IP address.

  In step S213, the packet transmission means 33 transmits the generated message packet addressed to the teacher. As a result, all the utterance data is sent to the teacher-side client 11.

  In step S215, the packet generator 32 generates a message packet addressed to the student. Specifically, the packet generation unit 32 reads (1-1) the first user ID from the first message packet addressed to the server, and reads the second user ID associated with the first user ID from the ID storage unit 38. The second IP address associated with the second user ID is read from the IP address storage means 37 as the destination address, and (1-2) the first message data is read out from the first message packet addressed to the server as the transmission data. A user-addressed message packet is generated, (2-1) the second user ID is read from the server-addressed second message packet, the first user ID associated with the second user ID is read from the ID storage means 38, and the first The first IP address associated with the user ID is read out from the IP address storage means 37 as a destination address, and (2-2) support From server addressed second speech packet reads out the second utterance data to generate a second user addressed speech packet as the transmission data.

  In the generation of the message packet addressed to the student, the message data is extracted from the message packet addressed to the server and used as transmission data. The destination address is the IP address of another student who belongs to the same group as the student who is the speaker.

  In step S217, the packet transmission means 33 transmits the generated student-addressed message packet. As a result, the utterance data of the first student is sent to the student-side client 12b of the second student, and the utterance data of the second student is sent to the student-side client 12a of the first student.

  Similarly, the speech data of the third student is sent to the student-side client 12d of the fourth student, and the speech data of the fourth student is sent to the student-side client 12c of the third student.

  In this way, a chat is established between the first student and the second student belonging to the same group, and a chat is established between the third student and the fourth student.

  In addition, when transmitting message data to other users belonging to the same group, the message data may be transmitted only to the user of the avatar within a predetermined distance from the speaker's avatar in the virtual space.

  Specifically, when the first student and the second student belong to the same group and the first student speaks, (1) in the virtual space of the first avatar associated with the first user ID From the coordinate value storage means 39 for storing the first coordinate value and the second coordinate value in the virtual space of the second avatar associated with the second user ID, the calculation means 35 receives the first coordinate value and the second coordinate value. The coordinate value is read out, the distance between the first avatar and the second avatar is calculated based on the first coordinate value and the second coordinate value, and (2) the comparing means 36 calculates the calculated distance and the predetermined value. In comparison, it is determined whether the distance is equal to or less than a predetermined value or less than a predetermined value. (3) The packet generation means 32 compares information indicating that the calculated distance is equal to or less than the predetermined value or less than the predetermined value. Only when a message is received from 36 It is formed.

More specifically, the virtual space coordinate values {X1, Y1, Z1} of the first avatar and the virtual space coordinate values {X2, Y2, Z2} of the second avatar are read from the coordinate value storage means 39, and the following formula And calculate the distance between the first avatar and the second avatar,
d12 = {(X1-X2) ^ 2 + (Y1-Y2) ^ 2 + (Z1-Z2) ^ 2} ^ (1/2)
The calculated d12 is compared with a predetermined value.

  The above is the processing flow when the Web server 14 receives a message packet from the student-side client 12 and then transmits the message packet to the teacher-side client 11 and another student-side client 12 belonging to the same group.

  Next, the flow of processing from when the student-side client 12 receives the grouping start packet addressed to the student until the message packet addressed to the student is received through transmission of the message packet addressed to the server will be described.

  As shown in FIG. 11, first, the student side client 12 logs in in step S301.

In step S303, information about another user is received from the Web server 14. For example,
The first student-side client 12a receives the user information of the second to fourth students from the web server 14 after logging in,
The second student-side client 12b receives the user information of the first, third, and fourth students from the Web server 14 after logging in,
The third student side client 12c receives the user information of the first, second, and fourth students from the Web server 14 after logging in,
The fourth student-side client 12d receives the user information of the first to third students from the Web server 14 after logging in.

The user information includes user basic information and user avatar information. For example,
User basic information includes user ID, user name, handle name, language code, affiliation ID, email address, user image file name, self-introduction sentence, encrypted user password, user authority ID,
User avatar information includes gender, hair style, hair color, face pattern, skin color, outerwear pattern, pants / skirt pattern, shoe pattern, head item, right hand item, left hand item.

In step S305, the space ID is transmitted.
For example, when a screen as shown in FIG. 12 is displayed on the screen of the display device of the student-side client 12, and the first student selects “Virtual Campus” from the pull-down menu M301, it corresponds to “Virtual Campus”. A space ID is transmitted.

  In step S307, a grouping start packet is received from the server. The grouping start packet received by the student client 12 includes the IDs of other members belonging to the same group as the user of the student client that has received the grouping start packet.

  For example, a grouping start packet received by the first student includes information {group ID = 01, user ID = 02}, and a grouping start packet received by the second student has {group ID = 01, user ID = 01} is included, and the grouping start packet received by the third student includes information {group ID = 02, user ID = 04}. The grouping start packet received by the fourth student Includes information of {group ID = 02, user ID = 03}.

  In step S309, the group name to which the user belongs and the IDs of members other than the user belonging to the group are acquired from the grouping start packet. Based on the basic user information received at the time of login, the handle name of the user other than the user is displayed on the screen of the display device.

In the example shown in FIG.
The first user's own handle name “Oo 1”,
-Handle name “Oo 2” of the second user belonging to the same group
Is displayed in the “NAME” window W211 on the screen of the display device.
-Group name "3D-IES / administrator" to which the first and second users belong
Is displayed in the “GROUP” window W213.

  Next, the avatar moves to the selected virtual space. FIG. 13 shows an example in which the first user's avatar jumps and moves to “Virtual Campus”.

  In step S311, the virtual space, its own avatar, and other members' avatars are displayed on the screen of the display device.

In the example shown in FIG. 14, when viewing the viewpoint direction of the avatar av1 from behind the avatar av1 corresponding to the handle name “Oo1”, an image of “Virtual Campus”,
・ Image of avatar av1,
The image of the avatar av2 corresponding to the handle name “Oo2” is displayed on the screen of the display device.

  The image of the avatar av1 is generated based on the user avatar information associated with the user ID = 01. The image of the avatar av2 is generated based on the user avatar information associated with the user ID = 02.

  About the place where each avatar is arrange | positioned, it calculates | requires as follows, for example. First, one or two or more grouping points to be the center position of the group are determined in the virtual space. Then, any grouping point is randomly assigned to each group.

  Next, the avatar is arranged at the position of the angle and distance from the grouping point according to the values of Len (distance) and Turn (angle) obtained by the following formula with the grouping point as the center.

Len = (Avatar_MovSpeed * 20.0) * (L div 8 + 1);
Case (L mod 8) of
0: Turn = try + DegToRad (0) + DegToRad (180); end
1: Turn = try + DegToRad (180) + DegToRad (180); end
2: Turn = try + DegToRad (270) + DegToRad (180); end
3: Turn = try + DegToRad (90) + DegToRad (180); end
4: Turn = try + DegToRad (315) + DegToRad (180); end
5: Turn = try + DegToRad (135) + DegToRad (180); end
6: Turn = try + DegToRad (225) + DegToRad (180); end
7: Turn = try + DegToRad (45) + DegToRad (180); end
else Turn = try + DegToRad (0) + DegToRad (180); end;
end;
“L” is a unique number in the group. “DegToRad” is a function for converting from a normal angle (eg, 90 °) to radians. "Avatar_MovSpeed" is the moving speed of the avatar. “try” is a basic value of the group point Y-axis rotation value (here, 0.0). When the first avatar “L” is 0 and “Avatar_MovSpeed” is 5.0, “Len” is 100.0 and “Turn” is 3.14. When the second avatar “L” is 1 and “Avatar_MovSpeed” is 5.0, “Len” is 100 and “Turn” is 6.28. Furthermore, if the 9th avatar “L” is 8 and “Avatar_MovSpeed” is 5.0, “Len” is 200 and “Turn” is 3.14. The first to eighth avatars are displayed on a circle with Len = 100, and the ninth to sixteenth avatars are displayed on a circle with Len = 200 (second row circle).

  In this way, “my avatar” and “an avatar of another student belonging to the same group” are displayed on the screen of the display device of each student side client.

  Next, transmission of a speech packet when oneself speaks and reception of a speech packet when another student speaks will be described.

  In step S313, a server-addressed message packet is generated and transmitted. More specifically, when a message content is input to the message input window W231 shown in FIG. 14 using the keyboard of the student-side client and the “Send” button B231 is clicked, the characters in the message input window are changed to the message content. Become.

  The content of the message is displayed in the chat window W233 together with the handle name of the speaker. For example, “O 1: How are you?” Is displayed. Moreover, it is preferable that the content of the message is also displayed near the speaker's avatar. That is, it is preferable to display near the image of the avatar av1 if the handle name is “Oo1”. Further, a speech packet having the speech content as data is generated and transmitted to the server. The speech packet includes the user ID of the speaker and speech data. However, since the user ID and the IP address are stored in association with each other in the IP address storage unit 37 of the Web server 14 as described above, the user ID of the speaker can be found using the source IP address as a search key. It is not essential that the user ID of the speaker is included in the server statement packet.

  In step S315, the student-addressed message packet generated by the Web server 14 is received from the Web server 14. The ID of the speaker and the content of the speech are acquired from the speech packet addressed to the student. Based on the stored user information, the handle name of the speaker is acquired from the ID of the speaker, and the message content is displayed together with the handle name in the chat window W233. Further, as described above, it is preferable that the content of the message is also displayed near the speaker's avatar.

  In the example shown in FIG. 14, the handle name “Oo 2” and the content of the message are displayed in the chat window W233. Moreover, it is preferable that the content of the statement is displayed near the image of the avatar av2.

  In this way, the student-side client 12a of the first user receives the remark data of the second user belonging to the same group via the Web server 14, and the remark content of the second user is the display device of the student-side client 12a. Displayed on the screen.

  Similarly, the student-side client 12b of the second user receives the utterance data of the first user belonging to the same group via the Web server 14, and the utterance content of the first user is the content of the display device of the student-side client 12b. Displayed on the screen.

  Similarly, the student client 12c of the third user receives the speech data of the fourth user belonging to the same group via the Web server 14, and the content of the speech of the fourth user is the display device of the student client 12c. Displayed on the screen.

  Similarly, the student client 12d of the fourth user receives the remark data of the third user belonging to the same group via the Web server 14, and the remark content of the third user is the content of the display device of the student client 12d. Displayed on the screen.

  As described above, according to the first embodiment, two or more users can be appropriately selected to form a group, and chat can be performed between members belonging to the same group.

(Second Embodiment)
In the second embodiment, the teacher-side client 11 decides to add a new member to an existing group, and the decision content is notified to the student-side clients 12a to 12c. In addition, in order to avoid duplication description, description is abbreviate | omitted about the same point as 1st Embodiment.

  The packet receiving unit 31 shown in FIG. 3 further receives a server-addressed member addition notification packet including information indicating that the third user is added to the first group.

  The ID storage means 38 further stores the third user ID read from the server-addressed member addition notification packet in association with the first group ID. That is, the first to third user IDs are stored in association with the first group ID.

The packet generation unit 33 further reads (1) the first user ID associated with the first group ID from the ID storage unit 38 and the first IP address associated with the first user ID from the IP address storage unit 37. Read the destination address, generate the first user-addressed member addition notification packet with the third user ID as the transmission data,
(2) The second user ID associated with the first group ID is read from the ID storage means 38, the second IP address associated with the second user ID is read from the IP address storage means 37 and used as the destination address, 3 The user ID is read from the ID storage means 38 and a second user addressed member addition notification packet is generated as transmission data,
(3) The third IP address associated with the third user ID is read from the IP address storage unit 37 as a destination address, and the first and second user IDs associated with the first group ID are retrieved from the ID storage unit 38. The third user-addressed member addition notification packet is generated as the transmission data by reading.

  The ID association changing unit 34 adds an association between the third user ID and the first group ID to the ID storage unit.

In this way, the existing member of the group to which the new member has been added is notified of the user ID of the added member. New members are notified of the user IDs of all existing members. The association between the user ID of the new member and the group is added to the ID storage means. In particular,
The first and second users are notified of the user ID of the third user,
The third user is notified of the user IDs of the first and second users,
The server stores that the third user has been added to the first group.

  As shown in FIG. 15, a member addition notification packet is transmitted from the teacher-side client 11 to the Web server 14 (Y201). It is assumed that the member addition notification packet includes information that the third user is added to the first group.

The web server 14 transmits a student-addressed member addition notification packet to each of the student-side clients 12a to 12c. In particular,
-A student-addressed member addition notification packet including information that the third user is added to the first group is transmitted to the student-side clients 12a, 12b (Y203, 205),
The student-addressed member addition notification packet including information that the first and second users already belong to the first group is transmitted to the student-side client 12c (Y207).

  In this way, the student-side clients 12a and 12b are notified that the third user will newly join the group, and the avatar of the third user appears on the screen of the display device of the student-side clients 12a and 12b. In addition, the first user's avatar and the second user's avatar appear on the screen of the display device of the student-side client 12c.

  The transmission destination of the student-addressed message packet transmitted by the Web server 14 also changes. Specifically, since the first to third user IDs are stored in the ID storage unit 38 in association with each other, the Web server 14 receives the message packet from the student user client 12a of the first user (Y209), and the second IP A student-addressed message packet having the address as the destination address and the first user's message data as transmission data is generated and transmitted (Y211), and the first user's message data is transmitted with the third IP address as the destination address. A message packet addressed to the student is generated and transmitted (Y213), and a message packet addressed to the teacher is generated with the administrator IP address as the destination address and the first user's message data as the transmission data. (Y215).

  Similarly, when the Web server 14 receives a message packet from the student-side client 12b of the second user (Y217), the message packet addressed to the student uses the first IP address as the destination address and the second user's message data as the transmission data. Is generated and transmitted (Y219), and a student-addressed message packet is generated and transmitted with the third IP address as the destination address and the second user's message data as transmission data (Y221). A teacher-addressed message packet is generated and transmitted with the second party's IP address as the destination address and the second user's message data as the transmission data (Y223).

  Similarly, when the Web server 14 receives a message packet from the student client 12c of the third user (Y225), the message packet addressed to the student having the first IP address as the destination address and the third user's message data as the transmission data. Is generated and transmitted (Y227), and a student-addressed message packet having the second IP address as the destination address and the third user's message data as transmission data is generated and transmitted (Y229), and further managed. A teacher-addressed message packet is generated and transmitted with the IP address of the third party as the destination address and the message data of the third user as the transmission data (Y231).

Thus, after a new member is added to an existing group, a speech packet is transmitted and received between the existing member and the new member. Specifically, a speech packet is transmitted and received between the first to third users. And
The remarks of the first user are displayed together with the handle name of the first user on the screens of the display devices of the student clients 12b and 12c of the second and third users,
The remarks of the second user are displayed together with the handle name of the second user on the screens of the display devices of the student clients 12a and 12c of the first and third users,
The remarks of the third user are displayed together with the handle name of the third user on the screens of the display devices of the student clients 12a and 12b of the first and second users.

  As described above, according to the second embodiment, it is possible to add a new member to an existing group based on a decision made in the teacher-side client, and chat between new members including the added member. It can be carried out.

(Third embodiment)
In the third embodiment, the teacher-side client 11 decides to delete a member from an existing group, and the decision content is notified to the student-side clients 12a to 12c.

  The IP address storage means 37 shown in FIG. 3 includes a first user ID and a first IP address of a first user, a second user ID and a second IP address of a second user, a third user ID and a third IP address of a third user, Are stored in association with each other.

  The ID storage means 38 stores the first user ID, the second user ID, and the third user ID in association with the first group ID of the first group.

  The packet receiving unit 31 receives a packet addressed to the third server including information indicating that the third user is deleted from the first group.

The packet generation means 32
The first user ID associated with the first group ID is read from the ID storage unit 38, the first IP address associated with the first user ID is read from the IP address storage unit 37, and is used as the destination address. Using the information indicating that the user is deleted as transmission data, a member deletion notification packet addressed to the first user is generated,
The second user ID associated with the first group ID is read out from the ID storage means 38, the second IP address associated with the second user ID is read out from the IP address storage means 37 as the destination address, and the third A member deletion notification packet addressed to the second user is generated using information indicating that the user is deleted as transmission data.

  The ID association changing unit 34 deletes the association between the third user ID and the first group ID from the ID storage unit.

In this way, the remaining members of the group from which the existing members have been deleted are notified that a certain member has been deleted. Further, the deleted member himself / herself is notified that he / she has been deleted. The deleted member's user ID is deleted from the ID storage means in association with the group. In particular,
The first and second users are notified that the third user has been deleted,
The third user ID is notified that it has been deleted from the first group,
The server stores that the third user has been deleted from the first group.

  When notifying the first and second users that the third user has been deleted, the deleted user ID may be notified, or the user ID remaining without being deleted may be notified. When the student-side client 12 is notified of the deleted user ID, the student-side client 12 may delete only the user ID notified from the user ID list of the member of the group to which the student client 12 belongs. When the user ID list that remains without being notified is notified, the user ID list of the member of the group to which the user belongs may be overwritten with the notified user ID list.

  As shown in FIG. 16, a teacher member client 11 sends a member deletion notification packet to the Web server 14 (Y301). The member deletion notification packet includes information that the third user is deleted from the first group.

The Web server 14 transmits a student-addressed member deletion notification packet to each of the student-side clients 12a to 12c. In particular,
A student member deletion notification packet including information that the third user is deleted from the first group is transmitted to the student side clients 12a to 12c (Y303 to 307).

  In this way, the student-side clients 12a to 12c are notified that the third user has left the first group, and the avatar of the third user disappears from the screen of the display device of the student-side clients 12a and 12b.

  The transmission destination of the student-addressed message packet transmitted by the Web server 14 also changes. Specifically, since the Web server 14 stores only the first and second user IDs in association with each other in the ID storage unit 38, when receiving a message packet from the student-side client 12a of the first user (Y309), 2 Generate and send a student-addressed message packet with the IP address as the destination address and the first user's message data as transmission data (Y311). Also, the administrator IP address as the destination address and the first user's message data A message packet addressed to the teacher is generated and transmitted (Y313).

  Similarly, when the Web server 14 receives the message packet from the student user client 12b of the second user (Y315), the message packet addressed to the student having the first IP address as the destination address and the message data of the second user as the transmission data. Is generated and transmitted (Y317), and a teacher-destined message packet having the administrator IP address as the destination address and the second user's message data as transmission data is generated and transmitted (Y319).

Thus, after a member is deleted from the existing group, a speech packet is transmitted and received between the remaining members. Specifically, a speech packet is transmitted and received between the first and second users. And
The remark of the first user is displayed on the screen of the display device of the student-side client 12b of the second user together with the handle name of the first user,
The remark of the second user is displayed together with the handle name of the second user on the screen of the display device of the student user client 12a of the first user.

  As described above, according to the third embodiment, a specific member can be deleted from an existing group based on a decision made in the teacher-side client, and chat can be performed between the remaining members.

(Fourth embodiment)
In the fourth embodiment, a message packet is transmitted from the teacher-side client 11 to each student-side client 12 via the Web server 14. In addition, in order to avoid duplication description, description is abbreviate | omitted about the same point as 1st Embodiment.

  The packet receiving means 31 shown in FIG. 3 further receives a server-addressed message packet including information indicating all groups or a predetermined group ID and message data.

The packet generation means 32 further (1) when the message addressed to the server contains information indicating all groups, reads the IP addresses of all users from the IP address storage means 37 as destination addresses, and transmits the message data A message packet addressed to all students is generated as data, and (2) when information indicating a predetermined group ID is included in the message packet addressed to the server, the message packet is further associated with the user ID associated with the predetermined group ID. The predetermined IP address is read from the IP address storage unit 37 as a destination address, and a message packet addressed to a student is generated using message data as transmission data.

  In this way, the message transmitted from the teacher-side client 11 is notified to all student-side clients 12 or a predetermined student-side client 12.

As shown in FIG. 17, a grouping start packet is transmitted from the teacher-side client 11 to the Web server 14 (Y401). It is assumed that the grouping start packet includes information that the first and second users belong to the first group and the third and fourth users belong to the second group.

The Web server 14 transmits a grouping start packet addressed to the students to each of the student side clients 12a to 12d. In particular,
-A student grouping start packet including information that the first and second users are included in the first group is transmitted to the student-side clients 12a, 12b (Y403, 405),
A student grouping start packet including information that the third group includes the third and fourth users is transmitted to the student-side clients 12c and 12d (Y407 and 409).

  In this way, the student-side clients 12a and 12b are notified that they belong to the first group, the second user's avatar appears on the screen of the student-side client 12a, and the student-side client 12b displays The first user's avatar appears on the screen. Similarly, the fourth user's avatar appears on the screen of the display device of the student side client 12c, and the third user's avatar appears on the screen of the display device of the student side client 12d. A case where a message is transmitted from the teacher-side client to all student-side clients in this state will be described.

  First, the teacher side client 11 determines a message transmission target, inputs a message, instructs transmission of the message, creates a message packet addressed to the server, and transmits it.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the “transmission target” window W131 is selected from the pull-down menu to display the message transmission destination. When “all chat” is displayed in the “transmission target” window W131, the same message is transmitted to all student-side clients. When a specific group name is displayed in the “transmission target” window W131, the same message is transmitted only to the student side clients belonging to the group.

In the “message transmission” window W133, a message to be transmitted is displayed. The message sent is
・ It is input using an input device such as a teacher's client keyboard, or
The message is selected from the messages displayed by clicking the “select / register message” button B131.

When the “Send” button B133 is clicked, the message displayed in the “Send message” window W133 is sent to the Web server 14 (Y411, 421, 427). In particular,
-Information for specifying the transmission target such as "all chat" or "group 1",
A message packet including message data is transmitted to the Web server 14.

  If the transmission target is all chats, that is, all student-side clients 11a to 11d, message packets including the same message are transmitted to all student-side clients 11a to 11d (Y413 to 419).

  If the transmission target is the first group, that is, the student side clients 11a, 11b, a message packet including the same message is transmitted to the student side clients 11a, 11b (Y423, 425).

  If the transmission target is the second group, that is, the student side client 11c, d, a message packet including the same message is transmitted to the student side client 11c, d (Y429, 431).

  Based on FIG. 18, the creation of a student-addressed message packet will be described.

  When the message packet addressed to the server is received, in step S251, the message content and the transmission target are read from the message packet.

  In step S253, it is determined whether the transmission target is all chats.

  In step S <b> 255, when the transmission target is all chats, the packet generation unit 32 reads the IP addresses of all students from the IP address storage unit 37.

  In step S257, when the transmission target is a specific group, the packet generation unit 32 reads the user IDs of the students belonging to the transmission target group from the ID storage unit 38.

  In step S259, the IP address associated with the user ID read in step S257 is read from the IP address storage unit 37.

Specifically, if the transmission target is the first group, the packet generation means
The first user ID and the second user ID associated with the first group ID are read from the ID storage means 38, and then the first IP address associated with the first user ID is read from the IP address storage means 37 And the second IP address associated with the second user ID.

  In step S261, a student-addressed message packet is created using the IP address read in step S255 or S259 as the transmission destination and the message content read in step S251 as transmission data.

  When the student client receives the message packet addressed to the student, the message is displayed on the screen of the display device of the student client.

  For example, various messages are displayed near the bottom of the virtual space display window W235 shown in FIG.

  As described above, according to the fourth embodiment, the same message is displayed on the screens of the display devices of all student-side clients, or the same message is displayed on the screens of the display devices of student-side clients belonging to the selected group. Can be made.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the client server system concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the hardware of the client and server concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the specific means constructed | assembled in the server concerning embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the transmission / reception content between the teacher side client in 1st Embodiment, a Web server, and a student side client. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the process in the teacher side client in 1st Embodiment. In 1st Embodiment, it is a grouping start screen displayed on the display apparatus of a teacher side client. In 1st Embodiment, it is a grouping member selection screen displayed on the display apparatus of a teacher side client. In 1st Embodiment, it is a chat monitoring group selection screen displayed on the display apparatus of a teacher side client. In 1st Embodiment, it is the monitoring chat display screen displayed on the display apparatus of a teacher side client. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the process in the web server in 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the process in the student side client in 1st Embodiment. In the first embodiment, a virtual space selection screen is displayed on the screen of the display device of the student side client. In the first embodiment, the virtual space movement screen is displayed on the screen of the display device of the student side client. In the first embodiment, an avatar belonging to the same group as the selected virtual space is displayed on the screen of the display device of the student side client. It is a sequence diagram which shows the transmission / reception content between the teacher side client in 2nd Embodiment, a Web server, and a student side client. It is a sequence diagram which shows the transmission / reception content among the teacher side client in 3rd Embodiment, a Web server, and a student side client. It is a sequence diagram which shows the transmission / reception content between the teacher side client in 4th Embodiment, a Web server, and a student side client. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the message packet generation process for a student in the Web server in 4th Embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Teacher side client 12 ... Student side client 14 ... Web server 15 ... Media server 21 ... CPU 22 ... Communication apparatus 23 ... ROM 24 ... RAM
25 ... HDD 26 ... storage medium drive 27 ... input device 28 ... display device 31 ... packet receiving means 32 ... packet generating means 33 ... packet transmitting means 34 ... ID association changing means 35 ... calculating means 36 ... comparing means 37 ... IP address storage Means 38 ... ID storage means 39 ... Coordinate value storage means

Claims (14)

A server computer that can send and receive information to and from multiple client computers
IP address storage means for storing the first user ID and the first IP address of the first user, the second user ID and the second IP address of the second user in association with each other,
Information receiving means for receiving first grouping start information addressed to the server including the first user ID, the second user ID, and the first group ID of the first group;
ID storage means for storing the first user ID and the second user ID in association with the first group ID;
The first IP address is read from the IP address storage means as a destination address, and the first user grouping start information is generated with the second user ID as transmission data,
Information generating means for reading the second IP address from the IP address storage means and using it as a destination address, and generating grouping start information addressed to a second user by using the first user ID as transmission data;
A communication program characterized by functioning as Means for storing the IP address storage means in association with a third user ID of a third user and a third IP address;
Means for receiving server-added member addition information further including information indicating that the third user is added to the first group;
ID association changing means for adding an association between the third user ID and the first group ID to the ID storage means;
The information generation means further reads the first IP address from the IP address storage means as a destination address, generates the first user-addressed member addition information with the third user ID as transmission data,
The second IP address is read from the IP address storage means as a destination address, and the second user-addressed member addition information is generated with the third user ID as transmission data,
Means for reading out the third IP address from the IP address storage means as a destination address, reading out the first and second user IDs from the ID storage means and generating member addition information for third user as transmission data;
The communication program according to claim 1, wherein the communication program is made to function as: A server computer that can send and receive information to and from multiple client computers
IP address storage means for storing the first user ID and the first IP address of the first user, the second user ID and the second IP address of the second user, and the third user ID and the third IP address of the third user in association with each other,
ID storage means for storing the first user ID, the second user ID, and the third user ID in association with the first group ID of the first group;
Information receiving means for receiving server-destined member deletion information including information indicating that the third user is deleted from the first group;
The first IP address is read from the IP address storage means as a transmission destination address, information indicating that the third user is deleted is transmitted data, and member deletion information for the first user is generated,
Reading the second IP address from the IP address storage means as a transmission destination address, generating information indicating that the third user is deleted as transmission data, and generating member deletion information addressed to the second user;
Information generating means for reading out the third IP address from the IP address storage means as a transmission destination address, and generating information indicating that the third user is deleted as transmission data, and generating member deletion information addressed to the third user;
ID association changing means for deleting the association between the third user ID and the first group ID from the ID storage means;
A communication program characterized by functioning as Means for receiving server-addressed first message information including the first user ID and first message data, and server second message information including the second user ID and second message data;
The information generation means further reads the first IP address from the IP address storage means as a destination address, generates the first user-addressed message information using the second message data as transmission data,
Means for reading out the second IP address from the IP address storage means and using it as a destination address, and generating message information addressed to a second user using the first message data as transmission data;
The communication program according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the communication program is functioned as: Means for further storing the IP address of the administrator;
The information generation means further reads the administrator's IP address from the IP address storage means as a destination address, generates the first message information addressed to the administrator using the first message data as transmission data,
Means for reading out the administrator's IP address from the IP address storage means as a destination address and generating second message information addressed to the administrator with the second message data as transmission data;
The communication program according to claim 4, wherein the communication program is made to function as: The server computer further includes a first coordinate value in the virtual space of the first avatar associated with the first user ID and a second coordinate value in the virtual space of the second avatar associated with the second user ID. Coordinate value storage means for storing coordinate values;
Computing means for calculating a distance between the first avatar and the second avatar based on the first coordinate value and the second coordinate value;
Comparing the distance with a predetermined value to function as a comparison means for determining whether the distance is less than a predetermined value or less than a predetermined value,
Means for generating said information generating means only when said distance is determined to be less than or less than a predetermined value or less than a predetermined value;
The communication program according to claim 4, wherein the communication program is made to function as: Means for receiving server-destined message information including information indicating all groups or a predetermined group ID and message data;
When the information generating means further includes information indicating all groups in the message information addressed to the server, the IP addresses of all users are read from the IP address storage means as destination addresses, and the message data is transmitted data If the message information addressed to all users is generated and information indicating a predetermined group ID is included in the message information addressed to the server, the message information is further associated with the user ID associated with the predetermined group ID. Means for reading out an IP address from the IP address storage means as a destination address and generating message information for a predetermined user with the message data as transmission data;
7. The communication program according to claim 1, wherein the communication program is made to function as: In a server computer capable of transmitting / receiving information to / from a plurality of client computers,
The IP address storage means stores the first user ID and the first IP address of the first user, the second user ID and the second IP address of the second user in association with each other, and
The information receiving means receives the first grouping start information addressed to the server including the first user ID, the second user ID, and the first group ID of the first group,
ID storage means stores the first user ID and the second user ID in association with the first group ID;
Information generation means
The first IP address is read from the IP address storage means as a destination address, and the first user grouping start information is generated with the second user ID as transmission data,
The second IP address is read from the IP address storage means as a destination address, and grouping start information addressed to a second user is generated using the first user ID as transmission data. The IP address storage means further stores the third user ID of the third user and the third IP address in association with each other;
The information receiving means further receives server-added member addition information including information indicating that the third user is added to the first group;
An ID association changing unit further adds an association between the third user ID and the first group ID to the ID storage unit;
The information generation unit further reads the first IP address from the IP address storage unit as a destination address, generates the first user member addition information using the third user ID as transmission data,
The second IP address is read from the IP address storage means as a destination address, and the second user-addressed member addition information is generated with the third user ID as transmission data,
The third IP address is read from the IP address storage means as a destination address, the first and second user IDs are read from the ID storage means, and third member-addressed member additional information is generated as transmission data. The communication method according to claim 8. In a server computer capable of transmitting / receiving information to / from a plurality of client computers,
The IP address storage means stores the first user ID and the first IP address of the first user, the second user ID and the second IP address of the second user, and the third user ID and the third IP address of the third user in association with each other. And
ID storage means stores the first user ID, the second user ID, and the third user ID in association with the first group ID of the first group;
An information receiving means receives server member deletion information including information indicating that the third user is deleted from the first group;
Information generation means
The first IP address is read from the IP address storage means as a transmission destination address, information indicating that the third user is deleted is transmitted data, and member deletion information for the first user is generated,
Reading the second IP address from the IP address storage means as a transmission destination address, generating information indicating that the third user is deleted as transmission data, and generating member deletion information addressed to the second user;
Reading out the third IP address from the IP address storage means as a transmission destination address, generating information indicating that the third user is deleted as transmission data, and generating member deletion information addressed to the third user;
An ID association changing unit deletes the association between the third user ID and the first group ID from the ID storage unit. The information receiving means further receives server-first first message information including the first user ID and first message data, and server-addressed second message information including the second user ID and second message data,
The information generation means further reads the first IP address from the IP address storage means as a destination address, generates the first user addressed message information with the second message data as transmission data,
11. The second user address message information is generated by reading the second IP address from the IP address storage means and using it as a destination address, and using the first message data as transmission data. The communication method described. The IP address storage means further stores the IP address of the administrator;
The information generation means further reads the administrator's IP address from the IP address storage means as a destination address, generates the first message information addressed to the administrator using the first message data as transmission data,
12. The administrator's IP address is read from the IP address storage means as a destination address, and second utterance information addressed to the administrator is generated using the second utterance data as transmission data. Communication method. The coordinate value storage means includes a first coordinate value in the virtual space of the first avatar associated with the first user ID and a second value in the virtual space of the second avatar associated with the second user ID. Memorize the coordinate value,
The computing means calculates a distance between the first avatar and the second avatar based on the first coordinate value and the second coordinate value,
A comparison unit compares the distance with a predetermined value to determine whether the distance is equal to or less than a predetermined value or less than a predetermined value;
13. The communication method according to claim 11, wherein the information generation unit generates the utterance information addressed to the user only when it is determined that the distance is equal to or less than a predetermined value or less than a predetermined value. . The information receiving means further receives server address message information including information indicating all groups or a predetermined group ID and message data,
When the information generation unit further includes information indicating all groups in the server-addressed message information, the IP address of all users is read from the IP address storage unit as a destination address, and the message data is transmitted data If the message information addressed to all users is generated and information indicating a predetermined group ID is included in the message information addressed to the server, the message information is further associated with the user ID associated with the predetermined group ID. The communication method according to any one of claims 8 to 13, wherein an IP address is read from the IP address storage means to be used as a destination address, and message information addressed to a predetermined user is generated using the message data as transmission data. .

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