JP2006215948A - Real-time communication system and real-time communication accumulation device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce a user burden in participation to real-time communication from a portable terminal. <P>SOLUTION: By means of the real-time communication accumulation device, contents (contents data) of the real-time communication transmitted from a terminal 4A to the portable terminal 5 are accumulated sequentially, while accumulation of the contents is notified to the portable terminal 5 from an electronic mail transmitter 3 via a mobile body communication network 7, and in response to a contents browsing request from the portable terminal 5, accumulated desired contents are delivered to the portable terminal 5. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a real-time communication technique, and more particularly to a technique for providing a real-time communication service such as a video conference or an instant message to a terminal such as a portable terminal whose communication connection can be temporarily interrupted.

  In recent years, real-time communication services such as video conferencing and instant messaging have become widespread, providing services not only to communication terminals such as personal computers connected to the Internet, but also to mobile terminals connected to data communication networks such as mobile communication networks. Has been started (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1). In the following, real-time communication refers to communication in which a plurality of contents composed of video data, audio data, character data, etc. are intermittently exchanged while maintaining a session between any communication terminals using the Internet. And

  In such a real-time communication system, contents exchanged via the Internet are sequentially transferred to a mobile terminal of a mobile communication network via a gateway server, whereby a communication terminal connected to the Internet. Similarly, real-time communication using a portable terminal becomes possible.

The applicant has not yet found prior art documents related to the present invention by the time of filing other than the prior art documents specified by the prior art document information described in this specification.
http://www.nttdata.co.jp/services/s090111.html, “Air Messenger + Service Overview”, NTT DATA Corporation

  However, in such a conventional technique, when performing real-time communication, it is necessary that the mobile terminal is continuously connected to a gateway server on the Internet via a mobile communication network and receives contents sequentially transferred from the gateway server. is there. For this reason, there is a problem that not only the communication traffic of the mobile terminal is compressed and affects other communication using the mobile terminal, but also the burden on the user is large when using the real-time communication service. .

Many of these types of real-time communications are used to discuss arbitrary themes between multiple users and draw conclusions. In such a case, some users do not need to participate in the course continuously, and may participate in several milestones until a conclusion is drawn. In addition, the conclusion itself tends to be more important than the process of discussing detailed contents and drawing conclusions.
For example, in a video conference held in a company, there is a concept that a responsible person may participate and approve at several milestones until a conclusion is drawn.

  However, in the prior art, since it is necessary to continuously connect the mobile terminal to the gateway server, there is a problem in that the user is restricted until the real-time communication is terminated and the time burden is large. Furthermore, in the mobile phone terminal, there may be a pay-as-you-go system in which the communication cost is charged according to the amount of received packets, which is a cost burden on the user.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and an object thereof is to provide a real-time communication system and a real-time communication storage device that can reduce the burden on the user when participating in real-time communication from a portable terminal.

  In order to achieve such an object, a real-time communication system according to the present invention is a real-time communication system that realizes real-time communication between arbitrary communication terminals using the Internet, and is connected to a mobile communication network. E-mail transmission device that sends e-mail to other mobile terminals, and performs real-time communication with a communication partner terminal on behalf of the mobile terminal, and sequentially stores contents received through the real-time communication as stored contents addressed to the mobile terminal And a real-time communication storage device that transmits an e-mail for notifying the mobile terminal of content storage from the e-mail transmission device. The real-time communication storage device performs the mobile communication in response to a communication browsing request from the mobile terminal. Distribute part of stored content addressed to the terminal to the mobile terminal In which the way.

  At this time, in the real-time communication storage device, the start / end of content storage for the mobile terminal is set according to an instruction from the mobile terminal, and when real-time communication is performed, the start of content storage is set for the mobile terminal. Real-time communication may be performed, and real-time communication may not be performed when the content storage start is not set for the mobile terminal.

  Furthermore, an e-mail for notifying that a real-time communication request has been made may be transmitted from the e-mail transmitting apparatus to a portable terminal that has not performed real-time communication in the real-time communication storage apparatus.

  For the content to be distributed, the reception order of each stored content addressed to the mobile terminal is managed by the real-time communication storage device, and the latest of the stored content addressed to the mobile terminal in response to a communication browsing request from the mobile terminal. You may make it deliver a content to the said portable terminal.

  For the content to be distributed, the reception order of each stored content addressed to the mobile terminal is managed by the real-time communication storage device, and the latest of the stored content addressed to the mobile terminal in response to a communication browsing request from the mobile terminal. A plurality of contents received in the past retroactively from the contents may be distributed to the mobile terminal.

  Regarding the transmission timing of the e-mail, every time the content addressed to the mobile terminal is stored in the real-time communication storage device, an e-mail for notifying that the content has been stored is transmitted from the e-mail transmission device to the mobile terminal. You may do it.

  Regarding the transmission timing of the e-mail, every time the real-time communication storage device receives a browsing notification instruction from a communication partner terminal for real-time communication, an e-mail for notifying the mobile terminal that the content has been stored is sent to the e-mail. You may make it transmit from a mail transmitter.

  A real-time communication storage device according to the present invention is a real-time communication storage device used in a real-time communication system that realizes real-time communication between arbitrary communication terminals using the Internet, and stores contents received by real-time communication. For the mobile terminal, a real-time communication termination unit that performs real-time communication with a communication partner terminal on behalf of the mobile terminal and the content received by the real-time communication is sequentially stored in the storage unit as stored content addressed to the mobile terminal. A mail transmission instructing unit for instructing the e-mail transmission device to send an e-mail to notify the accumulation of content, and a part of the accumulated content addressed to the portable terminal is acquired from the accumulation unit in response to a communication browsing request from the portable terminal. And a browsing control unit for delivering to the mobile terminal That.

  At this time, the mobile terminal further includes a terminal management unit that sets start / end of content storage for the mobile terminal in accordance with an instruction from the mobile terminal, and stores content in the mobile terminal when performing real-time communication in the real-time termination unit. Real-time communication may be performed when the start of the content is set, and real-time communication may not be performed when the start of content storage is not set for the mobile terminal.

  Further, the mail transmission instructing unit instructs the e-mail transmitting apparatus to transmit an e-mail notifying that a real-time communication request has been made to a portable terminal for which real-time communication has not been performed by the real-time communication storage apparatus. May be.

  For the content to be distributed, the real-time communication termination unit manages the reception order of each stored content addressed to the mobile terminal, and the browsing control unit determines the stored content addressed to the mobile terminal in response to a communication browsing request from the mobile terminal. Of these, the latest content may be distributed to the mobile terminal.

  For the content to be distributed, the real-time communication termination unit manages the reception order of each stored content addressed to the mobile terminal, and the browsing control unit determines the stored content addressed to the mobile terminal in response to a communication browsing request from the mobile terminal. Among them, a plurality of contents received in the past retroactively from the latest contents may be distributed to the portable terminal.

  Regarding the transmission timing of the e-mail, every time the content addressed to the mobile terminal is accumulated in the e-mail transmission instructing unit, the e-mail transmission device sends an e-mail to notify the mobile terminal that the content has been accumulated. You may make it indicate.

  Regarding the transmission timing of the e-mail, the e-mail transmission instruction unit receives an e-mail for notifying the portable terminal of the content browsing instruction when the real-time communication termination unit receives a browsing notification instruction from the communication partner terminal for real-time communication. You may make it instruct | indicate transmission to an electronic mail transmission apparatus.

  According to the present invention, the real-time communication storage device sequentially stores the content of real-time communication transmitted from the terminal to the mobile terminal, and the content storage from the electronic mail transmission device to the mobile terminal via the mobile communication network is electronic. In response to a content browsing request from a mobile terminal, a part of the stored content is delivered to the mobile terminal in response to an email notification, so that the mobile terminal is not continuously connected to the real-time communication storage device, Based on the notification by e-mail, real-time communication content can be acquired and viewed by the mobile terminal at an arbitrary timing according to the user's intention, and pseudo real-time communication becomes possible.

Therefore, the communication traffic of the mobile terminal is not squeezed and the influence on other communications using the mobile terminal can be avoided, and the burden on the user when using the real-time communication service is greatly reduced.
In other words, since real-time communication content can be acquired at any timing according to the user's intention, the user is not bound by real-time communication that is actually performed, and the time burden on the user is avoided. it can. Furthermore, since a part of the accumulated content, for example, the latest content is selected and distributed to the mobile terminal, even if it is a pay-per-use system in which the communication cost is charged according to the amount of received packets, the cost to the user The burden can be greatly reduced.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[First Embodiment]
First, a real-time communication system according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the real-time communication system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
This real-time communication system is a service that provides a pseudo real-time communication service to the mobile terminal 5 connected to the mobile communication network 7.

  The real-time communication system includes a real-time communication control device 1, a real-time communication storage device 2, and an e-mail transmission device 3 connected to the Internet 6. The terminal 4 (4A, 4B) is an information processing terminal such as a personal computer connected to the Internet 6. The mobile terminal 5 is a mobile information terminal such as a mobile phone terminal or a PDA (personal digital assistant) connected to the mobile communication network 7, and accesses a Web site on the Internet 6 such as the real-time communication storage device 2 to obtain desired content. Has a known function (browser function).

  In the present embodiment, real-time communication contents transmitted from the terminal 4 to the mobile terminal 5 are sequentially stored by the real-time communication storage device 2, and the mobile terminal 5 is connected from the e-mail transmission device 3 via the mobile communication network 7. The storage of content is notified by e-mail, and the stored desired content is distributed to the mobile terminal 5 in response to a content browsing request from the mobile terminal 5.

[Real-time communication control device]
Next, the configuration of the real-time communication control apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the real-time communication control device used in the real-time communication system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The real-time communication control device 1 is a server device that is composed of a computer as a whole and performs call control related to real-time communication between the terminal 4 and the mobile terminal 5. As a main configuration, a communication interface unit (hereinafter referred to as a communication I / F unit) 11, a storage unit 12, and a real-time communication connection control unit 13 are provided, and are arbitrarily connected to each other via a bus 19.

The communication I / F unit 11 is a circuit unit that performs data communication with a communication device such as the terminal 4 or the real-time communication storage device 2 via the Internet 6.
The storage unit 12 includes a storage device such as a memory and a hard disk, and is a circuit unit that stores various processing information and programs necessary for call control processing in the real-time communication connection control unit 13.

The real-time communication control device 1 has an information processing unit (not shown) that realizes various functional units by cooperating hardware including a CPU and its peripheral circuits and a program in the storage unit 12. There is a real-time communication connection control unit 13 as a main functional means realized by this information processing unit.
The real-time communication connection control unit 13 is a functional unit realized by the information processing unit of the real-time communication control device 1, and has a function of performing call control related to real-time communication in the terminal 4 and the mobile terminal 5, for example, establishing and disconnecting real-time communication When the mobile terminal 5 participates in real-time communication, the mobile terminal 5 has a function of connecting the real-time communication storage device 2 as a substitute for the mobile terminal 5.

[Real-time communication storage device]
Next, the configuration of the real-time communication storage device according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the real-time communication storage device used in the real-time communication system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The real-time communication storage device 2 is composed of a computer as a whole, stores real-time communication content (content data) transmitted from the terminal 4 to the mobile terminal 5, and stores desired content in response to a browsing request from the mobile terminal 5. A server device for distribution. As main components, a communication interface unit (hereinafter referred to as a communication I / F unit) 21, a storage unit 22, a storage unit 23, a terminal management unit 24, a real-time communication termination unit 25, a content conversion unit 26, a mail transmission instruction unit 27, And a browsing control unit 28, which are arbitrarily interconnected via a bus 29, respectively.

The communication I / F unit 21 is a circuit unit that performs data communication with the communication device such as the terminal 4 and the real-time communication control device 1 via the Internet 6 and with the mobile terminal 5 via the mobile communication network 7.
The storage unit 22 includes a storage device such as a memory and a hard disk, and is a circuit unit that stores various processing information and programs necessary for processing in each functional unit.
The storage unit 23 includes a storage device such as a hard disk, and is a circuit unit that sequentially stores contents received via the communication I / F unit 21.

  The real-time communication storage device 2 includes an information processing unit (not shown) that realizes various functional units by cooperating hardware including a CPU and its peripheral circuits and a program in the storage unit 22. The main functional means realized by this information processing unit include a terminal management unit 24, a real-time communication termination unit 25, a content conversion unit 26, a mail transmission instruction unit 27, and a browsing control unit 28.

The terminal management unit 24 has a function of managing the start / end of a content storage service that stores real-time communication content to the mobile terminal 5 in accordance with an instruction from the mobile terminal 5.
The real-time communication termination unit 25 has a function for terminating real-time communication with the terminal 4 as a proxy for the mobile terminal 5 and a storage unit that receives content from the terminal 4 received by the real-time communication and stores it as content stored for the mobile terminal 5. 23, and a function of sequentially storing the data in the memory 23.
The content conversion unit 26 has a function of converting the received content into a format that can be viewed on the mobile terminal 5.

The mail transmission instruction unit 27 has a function of notifying the electronic mail transmission device 3 via the communication I / F unit 21 of an electronic mail transmission instruction for notifying the portable terminal 5 of content accumulation.
The browsing control unit 28 has a function of acquiring and distributing a part of the stored content addressed to the mobile terminal 5 from the storage unit 23 in response to a browsing request from the mobile terminal 5.

[Operation of First Embodiment]
Next, the operation of the real-time communication system according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of the real-time communication system (real-time communication between terminals) according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of the real-time communication system (real-time communication between the terminal and the portable terminal) according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  First, a case where real-time communication is performed between the terminal 4A and the terminal 4B will be described with reference to FIG. The processing operation for performing real-time communication between the terminal 4A and the terminal 4B is the same as that of a general known real-time communication system.

In response to a real-time communication start request operation from the user, the terminal 4A transmits a communication request specifying the terminal 4B as a communication partner to the real-time communication control device 1 (step 100).
When the real-time communication control device 1 receives a communication request from the terminal 4A via the communication I / F unit 11, the real-time communication connection control unit 13 communicates with the terminal 4B that is the communication partner specified by the communication request. Call control for establishing real-time communication is started.

First, the real-time communication connection control unit 13 notifies a communication request related to real-time communication with the terminal 4A to the terminal 4B via the communication I / F unit 11 (step 101). When the communication permission from the terminal 4B according to this is received via the communication I / F part 11 (step 102), it is confirmed via the communication I / F part 11 that communication with the terminal 4B is permitted. The terminal 4A is notified (step 103).
Thereby, real-time communication via the Internet 6 is started between the terminals 4A and 4B (step 104).

Thereafter, the terminal 4A transmits a disconnection request regarding real-time communication with the terminal 4B to the real-time communication control device 1 in response to a real-time communication disconnection request operation from the user (step 110).
When the real-time communication control device 1 receives a disconnection request from the terminal 4A via the communication I / F unit 11, the real-time communication connection control unit 13 communicates with the terminal 4B that is the communication partner specified by the disconnection request. Call control for disconnecting real-time communication is started.

First, the real-time communication connection control unit 13 notifies the terminal 4B of a disconnection request regarding real-time communication with the terminal 4A via the communication I / F unit 11 (step 111). When the disconnection permission from the terminal 4B according to this is received via the communication I / F unit 11 (step 112), the disconnection with the terminal 4B is permitted via the communication I / F unit 11 The terminal 4A is notified (step 113).
Thereby, the real-time communication between the terminals 4A and 4B via the Internet 6 is disconnected.

Next, with reference to FIG. 5, the case where real-time communication is performed between the terminal 4A and the portable terminal 5 will be described as the operation of the real-time communication system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
In this case, the real-time communication storage device 2 acts as a proxy for the mobile terminal 5 to receive and sequentially store the content from the terminal 4A, and any content from the real-time communication storage device 2 in response to a browsing request from the mobile terminal 5 To deliver.

That is, the terminal 4A transmits a communication request designating the portable terminal 5 as a communication partner to the real-time communication control device 1 in response to a real-time communication start request operation from the user (step 120).
When the real-time communication control device 1 receives a communication request from the terminal 4A via the communication I / F unit 11, the communication partner designated by the communication request by the real-time communication connection control unit 13 is the portable terminal 5. Therefore, the real-time communication storage device 2 is selected as a proxy for the portable terminal 5 and call control for establishing real-time communication with the real-time communication storage device 2 is started.

First, the real-time communication connection control unit 13 notifies a communication request regarding real-time communication with the terminal 4A to the real-time communication storage device 2 acting as a proxy for the portable terminal 5 via the communication I / F unit 11 (step 121).
At this time, the necessity of notification to the real-time communication storage device 2 and the address of the real-time communication storage device 2 that is the notification destination may be specified by a communication request from the terminal 4A. You may manage every.

In response to the communication request from the real-time communication control device 1, the real-time communication storage device 2 transmits a communication permission to the real-time communication control device 1 through the real-time communication termination unit 25 (step 122).
In addition, an e-mail transmission instruction (see FIG. 1: 8B) for notifying that the accumulation of content addressed to the mobile terminal 5 has been started by the mail transmission instruction unit 27 is sent from the communication I / F unit 21 via the Internet 6. To the electronic mail transmitting apparatus 3 (step 123).

When the real-time communication control device 1 receives the communication permission from the real-time communication storage device 2 via the communication I / F unit 11, the real-time communication connection control unit 13 permits communication with the real-time communication storage device 2. This is notified to the terminal 4A via the communication I / F unit 11 (step 130).
As a result, the real-time communication storage device 2 is connected to the terminal 4A as a proxy for the mobile terminal 5, terminates the real-time communication from the terminal 4A to the mobile terminal 5 by the real-time communication termination unit 25, and communicates between both via the Internet 6 The real-time communication (see FIG. 1: 8A) is started (step 131).

In the real-time communication storage device 2, the content received in real-time communication with the terminal 4 </ b> A by the real-time communication termination unit 25 is sequentially stored in the storage unit 23 as stored content, and the content in the storage unit 23 is stored by the content conversion unit 26. Is converted into a format that can be browsed at step 132 (step 132).
At this time, the real-time communication termination unit 25 manages the reception order of each stored content based on the reception date and time of the content.

Further, the e-mail transmission device 3 responds to a transmission instruction from the real-time communication storage device 2 and notifies the portable terminal 5 from the Internet 6 via the mobile communication network 7 of the e-mail (FIG. 1: 8C) is transmitted (step 133).
Thereby, the mobile terminal 5 receives the electronic mail and the user confirms the start of content storage.

Thereafter, in response to the user's browsing request operation, the portable terminal 5 transmits a content browsing request (see FIG. 1: 8D) to the real-time communication storage device 2 via the mobile communication network 7 and the Internet 6 (step 140). ).
When the real-time communication storage device 2 receives a content browsing request from the portable terminal 5 via the communication I / F unit 21, the browsing control unit 28 causes a part of the stored content related to the portable terminal 5 to be stored. Is acquired from the storage unit 23 (step 141), and the content (see FIG. 1: 8E) is distributed from the communication I / F unit 21 to the portable terminal 5 via the Internet 6 and the mobile communication network 7 (step 142). .

At this time, when there are a plurality of real-time communications associated with the mobile terminal 5, the browsing control unit 28 transmits a selection screen for selecting any of the real-time communications to the mobile terminal 5. FIG. 6 is an example of a real-time communication selection screen on the mobile terminal. In this example, real-time communication that can be browsed by the mobile terminal 5 is listed as a group of terminals, and the user selects a desired real-time communication by operating a cursor key.
The browsing control unit 28 distributes the stored content related to the real-time communication selected on the selection screen to the mobile terminal 5.

Note that the browsing control unit 28 acquires only the latest content received most recently from the content browsing request from the storage unit 23 based on the reception order of the content among the stored content addressed to the mobile terminal 5, and sends it to the mobile terminal 5. A plurality of contents received in the past retroactively from the latest contents, for example, the past several hours or the past several contents may be acquired from the storage unit 23 and distributed to the mobile terminal 5.
As a result, the mobile terminal 5 receives the content distributed from the real-time communication storage device 2 and displays it on the screen, and the user confirms the content.

FIG. 7 is an example of a content display screen on the mobile terminal. Here, real-time chat communication is shown as an example of real-time notification, and a plurality of short chat messages received from the real-time communication storage device 2 are displayed in order from the latest one in the lower half of the display area. You can browse in order by scrolling the screen.
In the upper half of the screen, in addition to the operation buttons, a message input area for sending chat messages to the real-time communication and a send button are provided. Chat messages sent using these buttons are stored in real-time communication. It is received by the browsing control unit 28 of the device 2 and transmitted from the real-time communication termination unit 25 to the terminal 4A.

  As described above, in the present embodiment, the real-time communication storage device 2 performs real-time communication with the partner communication terminal in place of the mobile terminal 5, and the contents received through the real-time communication are sequentially stored as the stored content addressed to the mobile terminal 5. One of the stored contents addressed to the portable terminal 5 is transmitted from the e-mail transmission device 3 in response to a communication browsing request from the portable terminal 5. Since the mobile phone 5 is distributed to the mobile terminal 5, the mobile terminal 5 is not connected to the real-time communication storage device 2 continuously, and based on the notification by e-mail, the user can select any Real-time communication content can be acquired and viewed by the portable terminal 5 at the timing, and pseudo real-time communication is possible.

Therefore, the communication traffic of the mobile terminal is not squeezed and the influence on other communications using the mobile terminal can be avoided, and the burden on the user when using the real-time communication service is greatly reduced.
In other words, since real-time communication content can be acquired at any timing according to the user's intention, the user is not bound by real-time communication that is actually performed, and the time burden on the user is avoided. it can. Furthermore, since a part of the accumulated content, for example, the latest content is selected and distributed to the mobile terminal, even if it is a pay-per-use system in which the communication cost is charged according to the amount of received packets, the cost to the user The burden can be greatly reduced.

  For example, when the real-time communication system according to the present embodiment is used in a video conference in a company, a responsible person arbitrarily participates and approves from a mobile terminal at several milestones until a conclusion is derived. be able to. This eliminates the need for the responsible person to continue to participate in the discussion process for discussing detailed contents and drawing conclusions, and can greatly reduce the time burden and cost burden on the responsible person.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a real-time communication system according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In the first embodiment described above, the case where the real-time communication storage device 2 always stores content addressed to the mobile terminal 5 has been described as an example.
In the present embodiment, a case will be described in which a content storage service for storing content addressed to the mobile terminal 5 only during a period desired by the user is provided.

  In addition, about each structure of the real-time communication system concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention, the real-time communication control apparatus 1, the real-time communication storage apparatus 2, the electronic mail transmission apparatus 3, terminal 4A, 4B, and the portable terminal 5, This is almost the same as the first embodiment described above, and detailed description thereof is omitted here.

[Operation of Second Embodiment]
Next, the operation of the real-time communication system according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing an operation of the real-time communication system (real-time communication between terminals) according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The same or equivalent parts as those in FIG. Is attached.

First, the portable terminal 5 transmits a login request to the real-time communication storage device 2 via the mobile communication network 7 in response to a login request operation for real-time communication from the user (step 150).
FIG. 9 is an example of a login request instruction screen on the mobile terminal. Here, as authentication information used for user authentication, input of user identification information “ID” and password “PW” unique to the user is required. At this time, the password corresponding to the user identification information may be stored in the portable terminal 5 and the password input may be omitted.

Further, as the transmission destination information of the login request, the network address “Host” of the real-time communication storage device 2 and its connection required communication port number “Port” are acquired and displayed from the setting information registered in the portable terminal 5 in advance. Yes.
On the login request instruction screen, the user operates the portable terminal 5 to input the user identification information “ID” and further the password “PW”, and selects the login button. As a result, a login request is transmitted to the real-time communication storage device 2.

  When the real-time communication storage device 2 receives a login request from the mobile terminal 5 via the communication I / F unit 21, the terminal management unit 24 starts the content storage service for the mobile terminal 5 and manages the terminal in the storage unit 22. Settings are registered in information (not shown) (step 151). This terminal management information is composed of a set of identification information of each mobile terminal 5 and a service status indicating the start / end of the content storage service for the mobile terminal 5.

Thereafter, in response to a real-time communication start request operation from the user, the terminal 4A transmits a communication request designating the portable terminal 5 as a communication partner to the real-time communication control device 1 (step 110).
When the real-time communication control device 1 receives a communication request from the terminal 4A via the communication I / F unit 11, the communication partner designated by the communication request by the real-time communication connection control unit 13 is the portable terminal 5. Therefore, the real-time communication storage device 2 is selected as a proxy for the portable terminal 5 and call control for establishing real-time communication with the real-time communication storage device 2 is started.

First, the real-time communication connection control unit 13 notifies the mobile terminal 5 of a communication request related to real-time communication with the terminal 4A via the communication I / F unit 11 (step 111).
Whether the real-time communication storage device 2 is set by the terminal management unit 24 to accept the start of the content storage service by the real-time communication termination unit 25 in response to a communication request from the real-time communication control device 1, Confirmation is performed based on the terminal management information in the storage unit 22 (step 160).

Here, when the start of the content storage service is set for the mobile terminal 5 (step 160: YES), the processing after step 122 in FIG. 6 described above is performed.
As a result, the content stored in the mobile terminal 5 is sequentially stored in the real-time communication storage device 2, and the stored content is distributed in response to a content browsing request from the mobile terminal 5.

On the other hand, when the start of the content storage service is not set for the mobile terminal 5 (step 160: NO), the real-time communication storage device 2 cannot communicate with the real-time communication control device 1 by the real-time communication termination unit 25. Is transmitted (step 161).
In response to this, the real-time communication control device 1 transmits a communication impossibility to the terminal 4A by the real-time communication connection control unit 13 (step 162). As a result, the communication request from the terminal 4A is canceled, and content storage in the real-time communication storage device 2 is not performed.

At this time, the mail transmission instructing unit 27 of the real-time communication storage device 2 transmits an e-mail for notifying that there is a real-time communication request to the mobile terminal 5 that has not performed real-time communication. The unit 11 instructs the electronic mail transmitting apparatus 3 via the Internet 6 (step 170).
In response to a transmission instruction from the real-time communication storage device 2, the e-mail transmission device 3 transmits an e-mail notifying that there is a real-time communication request from the Internet 6 to the mobile terminal 5 via the mobile communication network 7. (Step 171).
As a result, it is possible to confirm that the user has received a real-time communication request when the mobile terminal 5 receives the e-mail and can take measures such as starting a real-time history service.

  Thus, in the present embodiment, when the real-time communication storage device 2 manages the start / end of the content storage service for the mobile terminal 5 in accordance with an instruction from the mobile terminal 5 and performs real-time communication, the mobile terminal 5 confirms whether or not the content storage service is started. If the content storage service is started, real-time communication is performed. If the content storage service is not started for mobile terminal 5, real-time communication is performed. Since it is not performed, only the content relating to the desired real-time communication can be stored in the real-time communication storage device 2.

  As a result, the processing load on the real-time communication storage device 2 can be greatly reduced. In addition, when the content storage service is a paid service, the user can arbitrarily set whether or not the content storage service is necessary, and the user's economic burden can be reduced.

[Third Embodiment]
Next, a real-time communication system according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In the first embodiment described above, an example has been described in which the real-time communication storage device 2 sends an e-mail to the mobile terminal 5 to notify the user of content storage when content storage starts. .

In the present embodiment, every time new content addressed to the mobile terminal 5 is accumulated by the real-time communication termination unit 25 of the real-time communication storage device 2, an e-mail for notifying the content update is transmitted from the mail transmission instruction unit 27. An instruction is given to the e-mail transmission device 3.
In addition, about each structure of the real-time communication system concerning the 3rd Embodiment of this invention, the real-time communication control apparatus 1, the real-time communication storage apparatus 2, the electronic mail transmission apparatus 3, terminal 4A, 4B, and the portable terminal 5, This is almost the same as the first embodiment described above, and detailed description thereof is omitted here.

  Thus, an e-mail is transmitted to the mobile terminal 5 every time content is updated in the real-time communication storage device 2, and the user can immediately confirm the content update. Therefore, the user of the portable terminal 5 can browse the latest content easily and without delay by making a content browsing request from the portable terminal 5 to the real-time communication storage device 2.

[Fourth Embodiment]
Next, a real-time communication system according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In the first embodiment described above, an example has been described in which the real-time communication storage device 2 sends an e-mail to the mobile terminal 5 to notify the user of content storage when content storage starts. .

In the present embodiment, when the browsing notification instruction from the terminal 4A during real-time communication is received by the real-time communication termination unit 25 of the real-time communication storage device 2, the transmission of the e-mail notifying the content browsing instruction is transmitted. 27 is instructed to the electronic mail transmitting apparatus 3.
In addition, about each structure of the real-time communication system concerning the 4th Embodiment of this invention, the real-time communication control apparatus 1, the real-time communication storage apparatus 2, the electronic mail transmission apparatus 3, terminal 4A, 4B, and the portable terminal 5, This is almost the same as the first embodiment described above, and detailed description thereof is omitted here.

  Thereby, the other party user in real-time communication with the portable terminal 5 can notify the user of the portable terminal 5 at an arbitrary timing that he / she wants to confirm the content. Therefore, the user of the portable terminal 5 can browse the content that the partner user who transmitted the content determines to be important without delay by making a content browsing request from the portable terminal 5 to the real-time communication storage device 2. .

[Extended embodiment]
In each of the above embodiments, the case where real-time communication is performed between two terminals of the terminal 4A and the mobile terminal 5 has been described as an example. However, each case where real-time communication is performed between three or more terminals is also described. The embodiment can be applied, and similar effects can be obtained.
For example, in the real-time communication composed of the terminals 4A and 4B and the mobile terminal 5 in FIG. 1, the real-time communication storage device 2 participates as a proxy for the mobile terminal 5, and the content transmitted from the terminals 4A and 4B is real-time communication. It is stored in the storage device 2 and distributed in response to a browsing request from the mobile terminal 5.

Moreover, although each embodiment demonstrated as an example the case where the electronic mail transmission apparatus 3 was implement | achieved from the apparatus different from the real-time communication storage apparatus 2, the electronic mail transmission apparatus 3 is a function in the real-time communication storage apparatus 2. It may be realized as a part.
In each embodiment, the mobile communication network 7 is described as an example of a communication network to which the mobile terminal 5 is connected. However, an information terminal such as a PDA as the mobile terminal 5 is a communication other than the mobile communication network 7. Each embodiment can also be applied to a configuration connected to a network, such as a wireless LAN or a data communication network such as the Internet, as described above, and the same operational effects can be obtained.

In each embodiment, as a specific example of real-time communication, real-time chat communication in which character information is exchanged in real time has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and image data and audio data such as a video conference can be used. Each embodiment can also be applied to communications that are exchanged in real time, and similar effects can be obtained.
In this case, instead of each chat message, the content may be configured by dividing a moving image captured at each terminal, or the content may be configured from still images periodically captured.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the real-time communication system concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the real-time communication control apparatus used with the real-time communication system concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the real-time communication storage apparatus used with the real-time communication system concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the operation | movement (real-time communication between terminals) of the real-time communication system concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement (real-time communication between a terminal and a portable terminal) of the real-time communication system concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the real-time communication selection screen in a portable terminal. It is an example of the content display screen in a portable terminal. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement (real-time communication between terminals) of the real-time communication system concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is an example of a login request instruction | indication screen with a portable terminal.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Real time communication control apparatus, 11 ... Communication I / F part, 12 ... Memory | storage part, 13 ... Real time communication connection control part, 2 ... Real time communication storage apparatus, 21 ... Communication I / F part, 22 ... Memory | storage part, 23 ... Accumulation unit, 24 ... terminal management unit, 25 ... real-time communication termination unit, 26 ... content conversion unit, 27 ... mail transmission instruction unit, 28 ... browsing control unit, 3 ... e-mail transmission device, 4, 4A, 4B ... communication terminal DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 5 ... Portable terminal, 6 ... Internet, 7 ... Mobile communication network, 8A ... Real-time communication, 8B ... Mail transmission instruction, 8C ... E-mail, 8D ... Content browsing request, 8E ... Content.

Claims (14)

A real-time communication system that realizes real-time communication between any communication terminals using the Internet,
An e-mail transmission device that transmits an e-mail to any portable terminal connected to the data communication network;
E-mail that performs real-time communication with a communication partner terminal on behalf of the mobile terminal, sequentially stores content received through the real-time communication as stored content addressed to the mobile terminal, and notifies the mobile terminal of content storage And a real-time communication storage device for transmitting from the e-mail transmission device,
The real-time communication storage device distributes a part of stored content addressed to the mobile terminal to the mobile terminal in response to a communication browsing request from the mobile terminal. The real-time communication system according to claim 1,
The real-time communication storage device sets the start / end of content storage for the mobile terminal according to an instruction from the mobile terminal, and when performing the real-time communication, the start of content storage is set for the mobile terminal. The real-time communication system, wherein the real-time communication is performed, and the real-time communication is not performed when the content storage start is not set for the mobile terminal. The real-time communication system according to claim 2,
The real-time communication storage device transmits, from the e-mail transmission device, an e-mail notifying that a real-time communication request has been made to a mobile terminal for which the real-time communication has not been performed. . The real-time communication system according to claim 1,
The real-time communication storage device manages the reception order of each stored content addressed to the mobile terminal, and the latest content of the stored content addressed to the mobile terminal is updated in response to a communication browsing request from the mobile terminal. A real-time communication system characterized by being distributed to a mobile terminal. The real-time communication system according to claim 1,
The real-time communication storage device manages the reception order of each stored content addressed to the mobile terminal, and traces back from the latest content among the stored contents addressed to the mobile terminal in response to a communication browsing request from the mobile terminal. A real-time communication system characterized by delivering a plurality of contents received in the past to the mobile terminal. The real-time communication system according to claim 1,
Each time the content addressed to the mobile terminal is stored, the real-time communication storage device transmits an e-mail notifying that the content is stored from the e-mail transmission device to the mobile terminal. Real-time communication system. The real-time communication system according to claim 1,
Each time the real-time communication storage device receives a browsing notification instruction from the communication partner terminal, the real-time communication storage device transmits an email notifying that the content has been stored to the mobile terminal from the email transmission device. Real-time communication system. A real-time communication storage device used in a real-time communication system for realizing real-time communication between arbitrary communication terminals using the Internet,
A storage unit for storing content received in real-time communication;
A real-time communication termination unit that performs real-time communication with a communication partner terminal on behalf of the mobile terminal and sequentially stores content received in the real-time communication in the storage unit as stored content addressed to the mobile terminal;
A mail transmission instructing unit for instructing the e-mail transmitting device to transmit an e-mail for notifying the mobile terminal of content accumulation;
A real-time communication storage device comprising: a browsing control unit that acquires a part of stored content addressed to the mobile terminal from the storage unit and distributes the stored content to the mobile terminal in response to a communication browsing request from the mobile terminal . The real-time communication storage device according to claim 8,
A terminal management unit for setting the start / end of content storage for the mobile terminal in response to an instruction from the mobile terminal;
The real-time termination unit performs the real-time communication when the content storage start is set for the mobile terminal when the real-time communication is performed, and the content storage start is set for the mobile terminal. If not, the real-time communication storage device does not perform the real-time communication. The real-time communication storage device according to claim 9,
The e-mail transmission instruction unit instructs the e-mail transmission device to transmit an e-mail notifying that a real-time communication request has been made to a mobile terminal that has not performed the real-time communication in the real-time communication storage device. A real-time communication storage device. The real-time communication storage device according to claim 8,
The real-time communication termination unit manages the reception order of each stored content addressed to the mobile terminal,
The browsing control unit distributes the latest content among the stored contents addressed to the mobile terminal to the mobile terminal in response to a communication browsing request from the mobile terminal. The real-time communication storage device according to claim 8,
The real-time communication termination unit manages the reception order of each stored content addressed to the mobile terminal,
The browsing control unit distributes a plurality of contents received in the past retroactively from the latest content among stored contents addressed to the mobile terminal in response to a communication browsing request from the mobile terminal. Real-time communication storage device. The real-time communication storage device according to claim 8,
The e-mail transmission instructing unit instructs the e-mail transmitting device to transmit an e-mail notifying the portable terminal that content has been accumulated every time content destined for the portable terminal is accumulated. A real-time communication storage device. The real-time communication storage device according to claim 8,
The e-mail transmission instruction unit transmits an e-mail for notifying the portable terminal of a content browsing instruction when the browsing notification instruction from the communication partner terminal is received by the real-time communication termination unit. A real-time communication storage device characterized in that

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