JP2014056452A - Transmission system, transmission management system, transmission management device and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To appropriately and easily visualize cost reduction effects in the case of using a transmission management system.SOLUTION: A transmission management system for controlling communication to be performed between a plurality of transmission terminals includes: a reception part for receiving first identification information for identifying a transmission terminal and second identification information for identifying a communication participant from each transmission terminal; a specification part for specifying the nearest station corresponding to the received first identification information on the basis of information in which the first identification information is associated with the nearest station; an acquisition part for transmitting the nearest station corresponding to each transmission terminal to a search engine which searches travel expenses and/or travel time, and for acquiring the travel expenses and/or travel time between the nearest stations from the search engine; a calculation part for calculating the travel expenses and/or travel time to be spent on reduction costs on the basis of the number of the second identification information of each transmission terminal and the acquired travel expenses and/or travel time; and a storage part for storing the calculated travel expenses and/or travel time for each communication.

Description

  The present invention relates to a transmission system, a transmission management system, a transmission management apparatus, and a program.

  The remote conferencing system collects images and sounds by taking pictures of attendees and collecting the remarks of attendees in a conference room where there are attendees of the remote conference, and transmits the collected images and sounds It is converted into digital data by the terminal and transmitted to the other transmission terminal. In addition, the remote conference system realizes a state close to an actual conference by displaying an image on a display such as a video screen of the other party's conference room or outputting sound from a speaker.

  For example, in a teleconferencing system, all transmission terminals participating in a conference are connected to a relay device, and the relay device controls the distribution of image data and sound data to each transmission terminal between multiple sites. A technology for realizing a remote conference is already known.

  In a remote conference between multiple sites, a user who uses a predetermined transmission terminal can know who is participating in the conference using another transmission terminal during the conference. A technique for displaying a list on the screen of a transmission terminal is also known.

  For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for displaying location information of a base system that is carrying out a meeting and images (face images) of meeting participants at each base in association with each other. Further, Patent Document 1 displays a face image of a user who has already participated in the conference by reading the image of the conference participant recorded on the IC card at the time of joining the conference. A technique for displaying only the name is also disclosed.

  Here, in the teleconferencing system, it is visualized how much transportation costs and travel time have been reduced by comparing the case where all participants gathered in one base and having a meeting using the teleconferencing system. There is a need to do it.

  However, under the present circumstances, the cost reduction effect is visualized by the user calculating the transportation cost and the travel time using Excel or the like. In this case, it is necessary to manually input the number of conference participants, the nearest station, etc., and complicated processing is performed for the user. In addition, when inputting manually, there is a possibility of erroneous input, and the calculated cost reduction effect may not be appropriate. Hereinafter, the remote conference system is used as an example of a transmission management system that is a communication tool.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a transmission system, a transmission management system, a transmission management device, and a program capable of appropriately and easily visualizing the cost reduction effect when using the transmission management system. .

  A transmission management system according to an aspect of the present invention is a transmission management system for controlling communication performed between a plurality of transmission terminals, for identifying first identification information for identifying the transmission terminals and communication participants. The identification which specifies the nearest station corresponding to the received 1st identification information based on the information which linked | related the said 1st identification information and the nearest station based on the receiving part which receives 2nd identification information of this from each transmission terminal And an acquisition unit that transmits the nearest station corresponding to each transmission terminal to a search engine that searches for a transportation cost and / or travel time, and acquires the transportation cost and / or travel time between the nearest stations from the search engine; Any one of the bases where the transmission terminal exists based on the number of the second identification information tabulated for each transmission terminal and the transportation cost and / or travel time acquired by the acquisition unit Participate in communication with bases Provided is a calculating unit that calculates such transportation expenses and / or travel time when gathered, and a storage unit for storing for each communication of the calculated transportation expenses and / or travel time by the calculation unit.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to appropriately and easily visualize a cost reduction effect when using a transmission management system.

1 is a schematic diagram of a transmission system in an embodiment. The conceptual diagram which showed the state of transmission / reception of the image data in the transmission system, sound data, and various management information. The block diagram which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of a transmission terminal. The figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of a transmission management apparatus, a relay apparatus, a program provision apparatus, or a search device. The block diagram which shows an example of a function structure of a transmission system. The figure which shows an example of the data structure of a storage area. The figure which shows an example of a terminal authentication management table. The figure which shows an example of a destination list management table. The figure which shows an example of a terminal management table (the 1). The figure which shows an example of the table in terminal management DB. The figure which shows an example of a meeting history management table (the 1). The figure which shows an example of a meeting history management table (the 2). The figure which shows an example of the search result of a route search system. The figure which shows the example of a display of a destination list. The figure which shows the example of a display of full screen display mode. The figure which shows the example of a display of a cost reduction effect. The sequence diagram which shows the preparatory step operation | movement until a transmission terminal will be in the preparation state which participates in a video conference. The sequence diagram which shows the conference participation operation | movement until the transmission terminal will be in the participation state which participates in a video conference. The flowchart which shows an example of the operation | movement which calculates a cost reduction effect. The flowchart which shows an example of the operation | movement which calculates and displays a cost reduction effect. The flowchart which shows an example of the operation | movement which displays meeting history information.

  Embodiments of a transmission system, a transmission management system, a transmission management apparatus and a program according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[Example]
<System>
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a transmission system 1 in the embodiment. FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram showing a state of transmission / reception of image data, sound data, and various management information in the transmission system 1.

  In addition, the transmission system includes a data providing system that transmits content data in one direction from one transmission terminal to a plurality of transmission terminals via a transmission management device, and information between a plurality of transmission terminals via a transmission management device. Includes a communication system that communicates emotions and the like. The communication system is a system for mutually transmitting information, emotions, etc. between a plurality of communication terminals (corresponding to “transmission terminals”) via a communication management apparatus (corresponding to “transmission management apparatus”). Examples include systems and video telephone systems.

  In the present embodiment, a video conference system as an example of a communication system, a video conference management device as an example of a communication management device, and a video conference terminal as an example of a communication terminal are assumed, and then a transmission system, a transmission management device, and transmission The terminal will be described. That is, the transmission terminal and the transmission management apparatus of the present invention are not only applied to a video conference system but also applied to a communication system or a data transmission system.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the transmission system 1 includes a plurality of transmission terminals 10aa, 10ab,..., Displays 120aa, 120ab,. And a transmission management device 50 as a transmission management system, and a program providing device 90. The transmission terminals 10aa, 10ab,... Are configured to transmit, for example, image data and sound data as content data.

  In the following description, among the plurality of transmission terminals 10aa, 10ab,..., An arbitrary transmission terminal is represented as “transmission terminal 10”, and among the plurality of displays 120aa, 120ab,. This display is represented as “display 120”. The requesting transmission terminal 10 requesting the start of the video conference is represented as “requesting terminal”, and the requesting transmission terminal 10 is represented as “destination terminal”.

  Further, the display 120 may be incorporated in the transmission terminal 10. Further, the transmission terminal 10 may be a dedicated machine, a general-purpose PC (Personal Computer) in which a program in the transmission system 1 is installed, or the like. When the transmission terminal 10 is a PC, if the camera and microphone are not built in, the camera and microphone are connected externally.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the transmission system 1, a management information session sei for transmitting and receiving various types of management information is established between the request source terminal and the destination terminal via the transmission management device 50.

  Further, between the transmission terminals 10 in which the management information session sei has been established, four pieces of data of high resolution image data, medium resolution image data, low resolution image data, and sound data are transmitted and received via the relay device 30. Four sessions are established. In the present embodiment, these four sessions are collectively represented as “image / sound data session sed”. The image data does not necessarily need to be transmitted / received due to the difference in resolution, and may be one image data with a predetermined resolution.

  Here, the image data handled in the present embodiment may be encoded in a scalable manner. For example, the image data handled in this embodiment is composed of 320 pixels in the horizontal direction and 180 pixels in the vertical direction, low-resolution image data serving as a base image, and medium-resolution image including 640 pixels in the horizontal direction and 360 pixels in the vertical direction. There are data and high-resolution image data composed of 1280 pixels in the horizontal direction and 720 pixels in the vertical direction.

  Here, when the band in which the image data is transmitted is narrow, only the low-resolution image data serving as the base image is transmitted, and the transmission terminal 10 on the reception side, based on the transmitted low-resolution image data, Only low-quality images can be displayed.

  When the band through which the image data is transmitted is relatively wide, low-resolution image data and medium-resolution image data serving as a base image are transmitted, and the transmission terminal 10 on the receiving side transmits the transmitted low-resolution image data. A medium quality image can be displayed based on the resolution image data and the medium resolution image data.

  In addition, when the band through which image data is transmitted is very wide, low-resolution image data, medium-resolution image data, and high-resolution image data serving as base image quality are transmitted, and the transmission terminal 10 on the reception side. Can display a high-quality image based on the transmitted low-resolution image data, medium-resolution image data, and high-resolution image data.

  In FIG. 1, the relay device 30 relays content data among a plurality of transmission terminals 10. The transmission management device 50 is configured to centrally manage login authentication from the transmission terminal 10, transmission state management of the transmission terminal 10, destination list management, transmission status of the relay device 30, and the like. The image represented by the image data may be a moving image or a still image, or may be both a moving image and a still image.

  The plurality of routers 70a, 70b, 70c, 70d, 70ab, and 70cd select an optimum route for image data and sound data. In the following description, an arbitrary router among the routers 70a, 70b, 70c, 70d, 70ab, and 70cd is represented as “router 70”.

  The program providing apparatus 90 includes an HD (Hard Disk) 204 described later, stores a transmission terminal control program for causing the transmission terminal 10 to realize various functions, and transmits the transmission terminal control program to the transmission terminal 10. Can do.

  The HD 204 of the program providing device 90 also stores a relay device program for causing the relay device 30 to realize various functions, and can transmit the relay device program to the relay device 30.

  Further, the HD 204 of the program providing apparatus 90 also stores a transmission management program for causing the transmission management apparatus 50 to realize various functions, and can transmit the transmission management program to the transmission management apparatus 50.

  The search device 110 has a search engine that searches for transportation expenses, travel time, and the like by inputting between nearest stations. Search engines include, for example, the station spa, the station front exploration club, the transfer guide, and echinetto. The search device 110 receives a plurality of nearest stations from the transmission management device 50, and returns to the transmission management device 50 the transportation cost and travel time between any nearest stations among the plurality of nearest stations as a search result.

  The transmission terminals 10aa, 10ab, 10ac,... And the router 70a are connected by a LAN 2a so that transmission is possible. The transmission terminals 10ba, 10bb, 10bc,... And the router 70b are connected by a LAN 2b so that transmission is possible.

  The LAN 2a and the LAN 2b are connected so as to be able to transmit via a dedicated line 2ab including a router 70ab, and are provided in a predetermined area A. For example, the area A is Kansai, the LAN 2a is provided in the Tokyo office, and the LAN 2b is provided in the Shin-Yokohama office.

  On the other hand, the transmission terminals 10ca, 10cb, 10cc,... And the router 70c are connected by a LAN 2c so that transmission is possible. The transmission terminals 10da, 10db, 10dc,... And the router 70d are connected by a LAN 2d so that transmission is possible.

  The LAN 2c and the LAN 2d are connected so as to be able to transmit via a dedicated line 2cd including the router 70cd, and are provided in a predetermined area B. For example, the region B is Kanto, the LAN 2c is provided in the Osaka office, and the LAN 2d is provided in the Kyoto office. Area A and area B are connected to each other through routers 70ab and 70cd via the Internet 2i so as to be able to transmit to each other.

  The relay device 30, the transmission management device 50, the program providing device 90, and the search device 110 are connected to each transmission terminal 10 through the Internet 2i so as to be able to transmit. Here, the relay device 30, the transmission management device 50, the program providing device 90, and the search device 110 may be installed in the region A or the region B, or may be installed in a region other than these.

  In the present embodiment, the LAN 2a, the LAN 2b, the dedicated line 2ab, the Internet 2i, the dedicated line 2cd, the LAN 2c, and the LAN 2d constitute the transmission network 2 of the present embodiment. The transmission network 2 may have a place where wireless transmission is performed, such as WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) and Bluetooth (registered trademark), in addition to wired communication.

  In FIG. 1, four sets of numbers shown under each transmission terminal 10, relay device 30, transmission management device 50, each router 70, program providing device 90, and search device 110 are in general IPv4. An IP address is simply shown. For example, the IP address of the transmission terminal 10aa is “1.2.1.3”. In addition, IPv6 may be used instead of IPv4, but IPv4 will be used for the sake of simplicity.

  Each transmission terminal 10 is not only a video conference between a plurality of offices, a video conference between different rooms in the same office, but also a video conference in the same room, outdoors and indoors, or outdoors and outdoors. It may be used in video conferences. When each transmission terminal 10 is used outdoors, wireless transmission such as a cellular phone transmission network is performed.

<Hardware configuration of each device>
FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the transmission terminal 10. The transmission terminal 10 in the example shown in FIG. 3 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 101 that controls the operation of the entire transmission terminal 10 and a ROM (Read that stores programs used for driving the CPU 101 such as an IPL (Initial Program Loader). Only Memory) 102, RAM (Random Access Memory) 103 used as a work area for the CPU 101, a flash memory 104 for storing various data such as a transmission terminal control program, image data and sound data, and the control of the CPU 101 An SSD (Solid State Drive) 105 that controls reading or writing of various data with respect to the flash memory 104, a media drive 107 that controls reading or writing (storage) of data with respect to the recording medium 106 such as a flash memory, and the transmission terminal 10 When selecting a destination, etc. An operation button 108 to be operated, a power switch 109 for switching ON / OFF the power of the transmission terminal 10, and a network I / F (Interface) 111 for data transmission using the transmission network 2 are provided. ing.

  The transmission terminal 10 also includes a built-in camera 112 that captures an image of a subject under the control of the CPU 101 to obtain image data, an image sensor I / F 113 that controls driving of the camera 112, and a built-in sound collection device that inputs sound. A microphone 114 as a device, a built-in speaker 115 that outputs sound, a sound input / output I / F 116 that processes input / output of a sound signal between the microphone 114 and the speaker 115 according to the control of the CPU 101, and control of the CPU 101 The display I / F 117 that transmits image data to the external display 120, the external device connection I / F 118 for connecting various external devices, and the NFC (Near Field Communication) conforming to the wireless communication standard for non-contact ICs ), A communication I / F 119 for performing wireless communication with an NFC tag 22 to be described later, and the above-described components are electrically connected. And a bus line 110 of the address bus, a data bus, and the like for connecting.

  The display 120 constitutes a display device composed of a liquid crystal or an organic EL that displays an image of a subject, an operation icon, and the like. The display 120 is connected to the display I / F 117 by a cable 120c. The cable 120c may be an analog RGB (VGA) signal cable, a component video cable, or an HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) or DVI (Digital Video Interactive) signal. A cable may be used.

  The camera 112 includes a lens and a solid-state imaging device that converts light into electric charges and digitizes an object image, and a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) or a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) is used as the solid-state imaging device. It is done.

  External devices such as an external camera, an external microphone, and an external speaker can be connected to the external device connection I / F 118 by a USB (Universal Serial Bus) cable or the like.

  When an external camera is connected to the external device connection I / F 118, the CPU 101 drives the external camera in preference to the built-in camera 112. When an external microphone or an external speaker is connected to the external device connection I / F 118, the CPU 101 has priority over the internal microphone 114 or the internal speaker 115, respectively, and the external microphone or external speaker. The speaker is driven.

  The recording medium 106 is configured to be detachable from the transmission terminal 10. Further, the transmission terminal 10 may use an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable and Programmable ROM) or the like instead of the flash memory 104 as long as it is a nonvolatile memory that reads or writes data according to the control of the CPU 101.

  The transmission terminal control program may be a file in an installable format or an executable format, recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as the recording medium 106, and distributed. Further, the transmission terminal control program may be stored in the ROM 102 instead of the flash memory 104.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a transmission management device, a relay device, a program providing device, or a search device. In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, the transmission management device 50 is used as a CPU 201 that controls the operation of the entire transmission management device 50, a ROM 202 that stores a program used to drive the CPU 201 such as an IPL, and a work area for the CPU 201. Data for RAM 203, HD 204 for storing various data such as a transmission management program, HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 205 for controlling reading or writing of various data with respect to HD 204 according to control of CPU 201, and data for recording medium 206 such as flash memory A media drive 207 for controlling reading or writing (storage) of data, a display 208 for displaying various information such as a cursor, menu, window, character, or image, and a network for data transmission using the transmission network 2. A work I / F 209, a keyboard 211 having a plurality of keys for inputting characters, numerical values, various instructions, etc., a mouse 212 for selecting and executing various instructions, selecting a processing target, moving a cursor, etc. A CD-ROM drive 214 that controls reading or writing of various data with respect to a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory) 213 as an example of a detachable recording medium, and an address for electrically connecting the above components. And a bus line 210 such as a bus or a data bus.

  The transmission management program may be recorded in a computer-readable recording medium such as the recording medium 206 or the CD-ROM 213 and distributed as a file in an installable or executable format. Further, the transmission management program may be stored in the ROM 202 instead of the HD 204.

  Further, since the relay device 30 has the same hardware configuration as the transmission management device 50, the description thereof is omitted. However, a relay device program for controlling the relay device 30 is recorded in the HD 204.

  In this case as well, the relay device program may be installed in an installable or executable format, recorded in a computer-readable recording medium such as the recording medium 206 or the CD-ROM 213, and distributed. . Further, the relay device program may be stored in the ROM 202 instead of the HD 204.

  The program providing apparatus 90 has the same hardware configuration as that of the transmission management apparatus 50, and thus the description thereof is omitted. However, the program providing apparatus program for controlling the program providing apparatus 90 is recorded in the HD 204.

  Also in this case, the program providing apparatus program is a file in an installable or executable format, and may be recorded and distributed on a computer-readable recording medium such as the recording medium 206 or the CD-ROM 213. Good. Further, the program providing apparatus program may be stored in the ROM 202 instead of the HD 204.

  The search device 110 has the same hardware configuration as that of the transmission management device 50, and thus the description thereof is omitted. However, the HD 204 stores a search device program for controlling the search device 110.

  In addition, the transmission management device 50, the relay device 30, the program providing device 90, and the search device 110 are not necessarily provided with the display 208, the keyboard 211, the mouse 212, and the like, and may not be provided as necessary.

  Note that a CD-R (Compact Disc Recordable), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), a Blu-ray disc, or the like may be applied as the computer-readable recording medium.

<Functional configuration of system>
FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the transmission system 1. In the example illustrated in FIG. 5, the transmission terminal 10, the relay device 30, the transmission management device 50, and the search device 110 are connected so that data can be transmitted via the transmission network 2. Further, the transmission terminal 10 can establish short-range wireless communication with the NFC tag 22 and acquire information from the NFC tag 22 by the communication I / F 119 illustrated in FIG. 3. Further, the information input to the transmission terminal 10 is not necessarily input by the communication I / F 119, and may be input manually. That is, the communication I / F 119 is an example of an input unit that inputs information. Note that the program providing apparatus 90 shown in FIG. 1 is not directly related to the transmission of data related to the video conference, and is not shown in FIG.

<< Functional configuration of transmission terminal >>
The transmission terminal 10 includes a transmission / reception unit 11, an operation input reception unit 12, a login request unit 13, an imaging unit 14, a sound input unit 15a, a sound output unit 15b, an NFC reception unit 16, a display control unit 17, and a storage / read processing unit. 19. These units are functions realized by the CPU 101 that executes the transmission terminal control program developed from the flash memory 104 onto the RAM 103. In addition, the transmission terminal 10 includes a storage unit 1000 that includes a RAM 103 and a flash memory 104.

  The transmission / reception unit 11 includes a CPU 101 and a network I / F 111, and transmits / receives various data and information to / from other transmission terminals 10 or devices 30, 50, 90 via the transmission network 2. The transmission / reception unit 11 constitutes a transmission unit and a reception unit of the transmission terminal 10 according to the present embodiment. The various data transmitted includes information read from the NFC tag 22.

  The transmission / reception unit 11 starts reception of each status information indicating the status of each transmission terminal 10 as a candidate for a video conference connection destination from the transmission management device 50 before starting a video conference with a desired destination terminal. It has become.

  The status information represents not only the transmission status of each transmission terminal 10 online or offline, but also the transmission status such as whether transmission is possible online or transmission is online.

  As another example, the status information includes not only the transmission status of each transmission terminal 10, but also the cable 120c is disconnected from the transmission terminal 10 at the transmission terminal 10, or a sound is output but no image is output. Various states may be represented such as preventing sound from being output (MUTE).

  The operation input receiving unit 12 includes a CPU 101, operation buttons 108, and a power switch 109, and receives various inputs from the user. For example, when the user turns on the power switch 109, the operation input receiving unit 12 receives the power ON and turns on the power of the transmission terminal 10.

  The login request unit 13 is configured by the CPU 101, and upon receipt of power ON, login request information indicating that a login is requested from the transmission / reception unit 11 to the transmission management device 50 via the transmission network 2 and the current local terminal The IP address is sent.

  When the user turns the power switch 109 from the ON state to the OFF state, after the transmission / reception unit 11 transmits state information indicating that the power is turned off to the transmission management device 50, the operation input reception unit 12 transmits the transmission terminal 10. The power is turned off completely. As a result, the transmission management apparatus 50 can recognize that the transmission terminal 10 has been switched from power ON to power OFF.

  The imaging unit 14 includes a CPU 101, a camera 112, and an imaging element I / F 113. The imaging unit 14 images a subject and outputs image data obtained by imaging to the transmission / reception unit 11.

  The sound input unit 15a includes the CPU 101 and the sound input / output I / F 116. The sound input unit 15a is input with a sound signal representing the sound collected by the microphone 114, and converts the input sound signal into sound data.

  The sound output unit 15b is configured by the CPU 101 and the sound input / output I / F 116, converts sound data into a sound signal, and outputs the converted sound signal to the speaker 115, thereby causing the speaker 115 to output sound. ing.

  The NFC receiving unit 16 is configured by the CPU 101 and the communication I / F 119. When the NFC tag 22 approaches a predetermined communication range and wireless communication by electromagnetic induction with the NFC tag 22 (hereinafter referred to as NFC communication) is established, the NFC tag 22 The information stored in the tag 22 is received. That is, the NFC receiving unit 16 functions as a data input unit that inputs information from the NFC tag 22 as a device. As the data input unit, information may be input manually.

  The display control unit 17 includes a CPU 101 and a display I / F 117 and displays various information on the display 120. The display control unit 17 combines the image data with different resolutions received by the transmission / reception unit 11 and transmits the combined image data to the display 120, thereby causing the display 120 to display an image represented by the image data. .

  In addition, the display control unit 17 displays the destination list on the display 120 by transmitting the information on the destination list received by the transmission / reception unit 11 from the transmission management apparatus 50 to the display 120.

  The storage / read processing unit 19 includes a CPU 101 and an SSD 105, and stores various data in the storage unit 1000 and reads various data stored in the storage unit 1000.

  The storage unit 1000 stores an identifier for identifying the transmission terminal 10 (hereinafter referred to as “terminal ID”), a password, and the like. Further, the storage unit 1000 is also used as a reception buffer for image data and sound data received when a video conference is performed with a destination terminal.

  Note that the terminal ID of the present embodiment indicates information such as a language, characters, symbols, or various marks used to uniquely identify the transmission terminal 10. The terminal ID may be information in which at least two of a language, characters, symbols, and various signs are combined.

<Functional configuration of NFC tag>
The NFC tag 22 has a communication function and a storage area. When the communication function comes close to the NFC reception unit 16, the communication function transmits the information stored in the storage area to the NFC reception unit 16 by NFC communication. When the distance between the NFC tag 22 and the NFC receiving unit 16 is shorter than about 10 cm, NFC communication that is contactless wireless communication is possible.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the data structure of the storage area of the NFC tag 22. The storage area is divided into a plurality of blocks. For example, 32-byte information can be stored in each block. Block No. 1 stores a unique number which is information unique to the IC card. Also, block No. 2 stores an employee number, which is information for identifying the user.

  Note that the NFC tag 22 may be any of a passive type, a semi-passive type, and an active type. Further, the NFC tag 22 may be embedded as an NFC chip in an IC card such as an employee ID card possessed by a user who may participate in a meeting, and as another example, the NFC tag 22 is possessed by the user. It may be embedded as an NFC chip in a smartphone or mobile phone.

  In addition, the storage area is not necessarily provided in the NFC tag 22 and may be provided in a storage area accessible by the NFC tag 22. For example, when the NFC tag 22 is embedded in another device such as a smartphone, the storage area is provided in a storage area provided in the device, a storage area externally attached to the device, such as a SIM card or an SD card. It may be done.

  Further, instead of the NFC tag 22, an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag using a microwave may be used. In this case, the transmission terminal 10 has an RFID receiving unit instead of the NFC receiving unit 16, and the RFID receiving unit uses a short distance (several centimeters depending on the frequency band) using an electromagnetic field or a radio wave from the RFID tag. Information is received by wireless communication of up to several m).

  The NFC tag 22 only needs to be a device that can store information in a state that can be acquired by the transmission terminal 10, and another example is a portable external memory such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory. It may be. In this case, the transmission terminal 10 needs to include a USB connector.

<< Functional configuration of transmission management device >>
The transmission management apparatus 50 includes a transmission / reception unit 51, a terminal authentication unit 52, a state management unit 53, a terminal extraction unit 54, a display control unit 55, a reduction cost calculation unit 56, and a storage / read processing unit 59. These units are functions realized by the CPU 201 that executes a transmission management program developed from the HD 204 onto the RAM 203. In addition, the transmission management device 50 includes a storage unit 5000 configured by the HD 204.

(Terminal authentication management table)
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the terminal authentication management table. In the storage unit 5000, a terminal authentication management DB 5002 having a terminal authentication management table as shown in FIG. In the terminal authentication management table, each password is associated and managed with an ID for identifying each terminal of all transmission terminals 10 managed by the transmission management device 50. For example, the terminal authentication management table shown in FIG. 7 indicates that the terminal ID of the transmission terminal 10aa is “01aa” and the password is “aaaa”.

(Destination list management table)
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of the destination list management table. In the storage unit 5000, a destination list management DB 5005 having a destination list management table as shown in FIG.

  In the destination list management table, the terminal ID of the request source terminal and the terminal ID of the destination terminal are managed in association with each other. Here, the requesting terminal is a requesting terminal that requests the start of transmission used for video conferencing. The destination terminal is a terminal that can be a destination of a transmission request by a request source terminal, and is a terminal registered as a destination candidate.

  For example, in the destination list management table shown in FIG. 8, the destination terminal that can request the start of the video conference from the transmission terminal 10aa whose terminal ID is “01aa” is the transmission terminal 10ab whose terminal ID is “01ab”. It is shown that the transmission terminal 10ba has a terminal ID “01ba” and the transmission terminal 10db has a terminal ID “01db”. The destination terminal candidates are added or deleted in response to a request made from the transmission terminal 10 to the transmission management device 50.

(Terminal management table)
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of the terminal management table (part 1). In the storage unit 5000, a terminal management DB 5003 having a terminal management table (part 1) as shown in FIG. 9 is constructed. In the example shown in FIG. 9, it is assumed that the transmission terminal 10 is a dedicated machine, for example, and does not move outside the office.

  In the terminal management table, for each terminal ID of each transmission terminal 10, the terminal IP address, installation location, nearest station, transmission state, reception date and time, and participants are associated and managed. In addition, the terminal management table may manage disconnection date and time. The disconnect date / time is, for example, the date / time when the session disconnection from the transmission terminal 10 is requested.

  For example, in the terminal management table shown in FIG. 9, the IP address is “1.2.1.3”, the installation location is “Tokyo headquarters”, and the nearest station is the transmission terminal 10aa with the terminal ID “01aa”. Represents “Shinbashi”, the transmission state is “online (during transmission)”, the reception date and time is “2012/1/23 13:00”, and the participants are “p1001, p1002, p1003”. Yes. The terminal ID in the terminal management table is uniquely assigned when the transmission terminal 10 is registered in the transmission system 1.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a table in the terminal management DB. FIG. 10A is a diagram illustrating an example of an office table. FIG. 10B is a diagram illustrating an example of the terminal management table (part 2). In the storage unit 5000, a terminal management DB 5003 having the tables shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B is constructed. In the example illustrated in FIG. 10, the transmission terminal 10 is, for example, a notebook PC, and is assumed to move outside the office.

The office table shown in FIG. 10A associates an assignable IP address, a base name, and the nearest station for each office that is one base. For example, at the Tokyo head office, the assignable IP addresses are “1.2.1.3 to 1.2.1.n ₁ ”. At the Tokyo head office, when the transmission terminal 10 performs network communication, one of the assignable IP addresses is assigned from a management device or the like, and network communication is performed.

  In the terminal management table (No. 2) shown in FIG. 10B, the terminal ID of the transmission terminal, the IP address, the transmission state, the reception date and time, and the participants are associated. The transmission management device 50 extracts an IP address from the network information of the transmission terminal 10, and determines which office's IP address the IP address belongs to by referring to the office table. If the transmission management device 50 can identify the office, it can also identify the nearest station.

  Therefore, even when the transmission terminal 10 moves between offices, the transmission management apparatus 50 can grasp which office is accessing from the network information.

(Meeting history management table)
FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of the conference history management table (part 1). In the storage unit 5000, a conference history management DB 5004 having a conference history management table (part 1) as shown in FIG. 11 is constructed. A conference history management table (part 1) shown in FIG. 11 is a conference history management table when the terminal management table (part 1) shown in FIG. 9 is used.

  As shown in FIG. 11, the conference history management table (part 1) includes a conference ID, a participation terminal ID, a conference participant ID, a start date / time, an end date / time, a conference time, a reduction amount of transportation expenses, and a reduction amount of travel time ( Min) attribute.

  Among the attributes, the attribute “conference ID” is an ID for identifying a conference. The attribute “participating terminal ID” is an ID for identifying the transmission terminal used in the conference. The attribute “conference participant ID” represents a concatenation of an ID for identifying a participant in the conference and a terminal ID indicating which transmission terminal the participant has used. For example, the front part of “@” indicated by the conference participant ID represents the participant ID, and the rear part of “@” represents the terminal ID. “P1001 @ 01aa” illustrated in FIG. 11 represents the participant “p1001” who participated in the conference using the transmission terminal “01aa”.

  The attribute “start date / time” indicates the start date / time of the entire conference, and is, for example, the reception date / time of the terminal management table. The attribute “end date and time” indicates the end date and time of the entire conference, for example, the disconnect date and time of the terminal management table. The attribute “meeting time” indicates the duration of the entire meeting. The attribute “reduction amount of transportation cost” represents the transportation cost reduced by using the remote conference. The attribute “travel time reduction amount (minutes)” represents the travel time reduced by using the remote conference.

  Note that the attributes of the conference history management table are merely examples, and may include other data items and values.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a conference history management table (part 2). In the storage unit 5000, a conference history management DB 5004 having a conference history management table (part 2) as shown in FIG. 12 is constructed. The conference history management table (part 2) shown in FIG. 12 is a conference history management table when the terminal management table (part 2) shown in FIG. 10 is used.

  The conference history management table shown in FIG. 12 is different from FIG. 11 in that the attribute of the nearest station is included. This is because there is a possibility that the transmission terminal 10 moves between offices, so it is necessary to specify and record which office (nearest station) the transmission terminal 10 used in the conference is at. Because.

  In the example illustrated in FIG. 12, the attribute “nearest station” is managed by associating the terminal ID with the nearest station. For example, the terminal ID and the nearest station are connected by “@”. “01aa @ Shimbashi” represents “Shinbashi” as the nearest station of the office where the transmission terminal with the terminal ID “01aa” exists. The transmission terminal 10 with the terminal ID “01ba” of the conference ID “c002” is accessing the network from “Shin-Yokohama”, but the conference ID “c003” is accessing the network from “Shin-Osaka”.

  The conference history management table is created by the transmission management device 50 based on the terminal management table. When a remote conference is performed, the transmission management device 50 assigns a conference ID, writes data in the attribute of the conference history management table, and manages the conference information.

(Functional configuration of transmission management device)
The transmission / reception unit 51 includes a CPU 201 and a network I / F 209, and transmits / receives various data and information to / from other transmission terminals 10 or devices 30, 90, 110 via the transmission network 2. The transmission / reception unit 51 functions as a reception unit that receives a terminal ID or IP address for identifying the transmission terminal 10 and a participant ID (second identification information) for identifying a communication participant from each transmission terminal. . The terminal ID and IP address are also referred to as first identification information.

  The terminal authentication unit 52 is configured by the CPU 201 and searches the terminal authentication management DB 5002 of the storage unit 5000 using the terminal ID and password included in the login request information received via the transmission / reception unit 51 as search keys, and the terminal Terminal authentication is performed by determining whether or not the same terminal ID and password are managed in the authentication management DB 5002.

  The state management unit 53 is configured by the CPU 201 and logs in the terminal management DB 5003 with the transmission state and transmission management device 50 for the terminal ID of the request source terminal in order to manage the transmission state of the request source terminal that has requested login. The reception date and time when the request information is received and the IP address are stored and managed in association with each other.

  Further, the state management unit 53 sets the power switch 109 of the transmission terminal 10 from the ON state to the OFF state, so that the state management unit 53 transmits the power supply OFF state information sent from the transmission terminal 10 to The transmission state of the transmission terminal 10 in the terminal management DB 5003 is changed from online to offline.

  The terminal extraction unit 54 is configured by the CPU 201, searches the destination list management DB 5005 using the terminal ID of the request source terminal that requested the login as a search key, and extracts the terminal ID of the destination terminal candidate for the request source terminal. ing.

  In addition, the terminal extraction unit 54 searches the destination list management DB 5005 using the terminal ID of the request source terminal that requested the login as a search key, and other requests that register the terminal ID of the request source terminal as candidates for the destination terminal. The terminal ID of the original terminal is also extracted.

  The storage / reading processing unit 59 includes a CPU 201 and an HDD 205, and stores various data in the storage unit 5000 and reads various data stored in the storage unit 5000.

  In addition, the storage / reading unit 59 includes a specifying unit 60, and the specifying unit 60 is based on information that associates the terminal ID or IP address with the nearest station (see, for example, FIG. 9 and FIG. 10A). The nearest station corresponding to the first identification information received by the transmission / reception unit 51 is specified. In addition, when each table shown in FIG. 10 is used, the specifying unit 60, that is, the IP address received by the transmission / reception unit 51 based on information that associates a plurality of IP addresses of the offices of each base with the nearest station. Identify the nearest station corresponding to. The identifying unit 60 notifies the reduction cost calculating unit 56 of the identified nearest station in association with the conference ID.

  The reduction cost calculation unit 56 obtains the nearest station information of the transmission terminals participating in the conference and the number of participants in the conference of each transmission terminal, and calculates the transportation cost and the travel time that are the cost reduction effect. Since the transportation cost and travel time vary depending on the location of the conference and the number of conference participants, the reduction cost calculation unit 56 is the cheapest by comparing the results calculated for each base of the transmission terminal used for the conference, for example. The cost will be reduced.

  The reduction cost calculation unit 56 includes an acquisition unit 61. The acquisition unit 61 transmits the nearest station corresponding to each transmission terminal 10 to a search engine that searches for transportation costs and / or travel times, and the search engine The travel cost and / or travel time between the nearest stations calculated by is acquired from the search engine. The search engine is provided in the search device 110, and a known transfer guidance system can be applied.

  For example, the reduction cost calculation unit 56 calculates the number of participants counted for each transmission terminal and the traffic cost and / or travel time acquired by the acquisition unit 61 for each base where the transmission terminal 10 exists. The transportation cost and / or travel time required when a participant gathers in any one of them is calculated.

  For example, when a meeting is held by two people from “Tokyo head office” and three people from “Osaka office”, the reduction cost calculation unit 56 performs the following processing.

  First, the acquisition unit 61 can acquire the one-way transportation cost and travel time from Shinbashi to Shin-Osaka by transmitting “Shinbashi” and “Shin-Osaka” of the nearest station to the search device 110.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a search result of the route search system. The acquisition unit 61 can acquire a search result as illustrated in FIG. 13 by transmitting the nearest station of each base to the search device 110. Note that the acquisition unit 61 actually acquires data such as transportation cost and travel time as a search result instead of the screen information of the display result as shown in FIG.

The reduction cost calculation unit 56 performs the following calculation when the meeting is held at the Tokyo head office or the Osaka office.
(1) When the venue is the Tokyo head office:
Transportation costs 57,000 yen (28,500 yen (round trip) x 2 people)
Travel time 10 hours 40 minutes (5 hours 20 minutes x 2 people)
(2) When the venue is the Osaka office Transportation costs 85,500 yen (28,500 yen (round trip) x 3 people)
Travel time 16 hours 00 minutes (5 hours 20 minutes x 3 people)
The reduction cost calculation unit 56 outputs the calculated transportation cost and / or travel time to the storage / read processing unit 59 in association with the conference ID, and records it in the conference history management DB 5004.

  As a result, the result when the venue is the Tokyo head office can be treated as a cost reduction effect. Further, the reduction cost calculation unit 56 similarly applies to a case where a remote conference is held by connecting transmission terminals of three or more bases, for example, “Tokyo head office”, “Osaka office”, and “Shin-Yokohama office”. The cost reduction effect can be calculated by comparing the results obtained for each of the three locations.

  The display control unit 55 performs display control so that each attribute of the conference history management table stored in the conference history management DB 5004 is displayed on the display unit. Further, the display control unit 55 may display only information indicating the cost reduction effect in the conference.

  The transmission / reception unit 51, when notified of the end of communication from at least one transmission terminal of the plurality of transmission terminals, transmits the transportation cost and / or travel time of the conference read from the storage unit 5000 to each transmission terminal 10. May be.

  In addition, when the transmission / reception unit 51 receives an acquisition request for conference history information from an information processing device (not shown), the transmission cost and / or travel time of the conference subject to the acquisition request read from the storage unit 5000 is sent to the information processing terminal. You may send it.

<Transition terminal screen transition>
Next, the screen transition of the screen displayed on the display 120 in the transmission terminal 10 will be described. 14-16 is a figure which shows an example of the screen displayed on the display 120. As shown in FIG.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a destination list. When the transmission terminal 10 completes the authentication process for conducting the conference, a destination list for selecting a terminal participating in the conference is displayed on the display 120.

  The destination list includes a destination list frame 400-1, a terminal ID 400-2 of a destination terminal associated with the transmission terminal 10, a terminal name 400-3, and icons 400-4a to 400 reflecting state information. -4c is included.

  As icons, an OFF line icon 400-4a indicating that a call cannot be made on the OFF line, a call enable icon 400-4b indicating that a call can be made on the ON line, and a call indicating that a call is being made on the ON line There is an icon 400-4c.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a display example in the full screen display mode. When the full screen display mode is selected after the conference starts, the display control unit 17 of the transmission terminal 10 causes the display 120 to display all images transmitted from the transmission terminals 10 participating in the video conference. .

  A relatively wide first image area 500 and a plurality of relatively narrow second image areas 510 are assigned to the display screen shown in FIG. For example, an image represented by the image data transmitted from each transmission terminal 10 participating in the video conference is displayed in each second image region 510, and the first image region 500 is participating in the video conference. An image represented by image data of the main transmission terminal 10 is displayed from among the transmission terminals 10.

  For example, among the transmission terminals 10 participating in the video conference, the display control unit 17 identifies the transmission terminal that is the transmission source of the sound data representing the voice among the received sound data as the main terminal. Here, the sound data representing the sound is sound data in which a sound section is detected for each received sound data and it is determined that there is a voiced section. In addition, the detection of a speech section can be realized by using a known technique (for example, see Niimi, “Speech Recognition”, Kyoritsu Publishing, pp. 68-72).

  FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a display example of the cost reduction effect. The screen shown in FIG. 16 is a screen displayed when the end button is pressed at any of the transmission terminals 10 in a meeting. Data indicating the cost reduction effect shown in FIG. 16 is transmitted from the transmission management device 50.

  The screen shown in FIG. 16 shows an example when the cost reduction effect is calculated using the example shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIG. 16, the reduction cost when the meeting is held at the Tokyo head office is shown, but the reduction cost when the meeting is held at the Osaka office may be displayed. Both the case of Osaka and the case of Osaka may be displayed.

  As the screen transition on the display 120, for example, the screen shown in FIG. 14, the screen shown in FIG. 15, and the screen shown in FIG. 16 are displayed in this order.

<Operation>
Next, the operation of the transmission system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 17 is a sequence diagram showing a preparation stage operation until the transmission terminal 10 enters a preparation state for participating in a video conference. FIG. 17 illustrates an example in which the transmission terminal 10aa is in a ready state. In the preparation stage operation, various types of information are transmitted and received in the management information session sei (see FIG. 2).

  In step S21, when the user of the transmission terminal 10aa turns on the power switch 109 of the transmission terminal 10aa, the operation input reception unit 12 receives the power ON and turns on the power.

  In step S <b> 22, the login request unit 13 transmits login request information representing a login request to the transmission management device 50 via the transmission network 2 from the transmission / reception unit 11 of the transmission terminal 10 aa when receiving the power ON.

  The log-in request information includes a terminal ID and a password for identifying the log-in request source transmission terminal 10aa. The terminal ID and password are read from the storage unit 1000 by the storage / read processing unit 19.

  When the log-in request information transmitted from the transmission terminal 10aa is received by the transmission management device 50, the transmission management device 50 can grasp the IP address of the transmission terminal 10ab on the transmission side.

  In step S <b> 23, the terminal authentication unit 52 of the transmission management device 50 performs terminal authentication using the terminal ID and password included in the login request information received via the transmission / reception unit 51 as search keys. The terminal authentication unit 52 searches the terminal authentication management DB 5002 (see FIG. 7) in the storage unit 5000, and performs terminal authentication by determining whether the same terminal ID and password as the search key are managed in the terminal authentication management DB 5002. Do.

  Here, when it is determined by the terminal authentication unit 52 that the same terminal ID and password as the search key are not managed, that is, when it is determined that the request is not a login request from the transmission terminal 10 having a valid use authority. The transmission / reception unit 51 transmits the authentication result information representing the authentication result obtained by the terminal authentication unit 52 to the transmission terminal 10aa that has requested login, via the transmission network 2, and the operation in the preparation stage ends. Become.

  In step S24, when the terminal authentication unit 52 determines that the same terminal ID and password as the search key are managed, that is, it is determined that the request is a login request from the transmission terminal 10 having a valid use authority. In this case, the state management unit 53 stores the terminal ID of the transmission terminal 10aa, the IP address of the transmission terminal 10aa, the installation location, the nearest station, the transmission state, the reception date and time, the participants, and the like in the terminal management DB 5003. To do.

  As a result, the terminal management table has the terminal ID “01aa”, the IP address “1.2.1.3” of the transmission terminal 10aa, the installation location “Tokyo head office”, the nearest station “Shimbashi”, the transmission state “online”, the reception The date and time “2012/1/23/13: 00 (year / month / day time)” are associated and managed. Note that the terminal ID, IP address, installation location, nearest station, and the like are associated in advance in the terminal management table, and the transmission status, reception date and time, and participants may be associated each time.

  In step S25, the transmission / reception unit 51 of the transmission management device 50 transmits the authentication result information representing the authentication result obtained by the terminal authentication unit 52 to the transmission terminal 10aa that has made a login request via the transmission network 2.

  In step S26, the terminal extraction unit 54 of the transmission management device 50 searches the destination list management DB 5005 (see FIG. 8) using the terminal ID “01aa” of the transmission terminal 10aa that has requested the login as a search key, and performs the search for the transmission terminal 10aa. The terminal ID of the candidate destination terminal is extracted.

  Here, the terminal IDs “01ab”, “01ba”, and “01db” of the transmission terminals 10ab, 10ba, and 10db, which are destination terminals for the terminal ID “01aa” of the transmission terminal 10aa, are extracted.

  In step S27, the terminal status acquisition unit 55 of the transmission management device 50 uses the terminal IDs “01ab”, “01ba”, and “01db” of the destination terminal candidates extracted by the terminal extraction unit 54 as search keys, and the terminal management DB 5003. And the transmission status “offline”, “online (transmission possible)”, and “online (during transmission)” are read out for each terminal ID extracted by the terminal extraction unit 54, so that the transmission terminals 10ab, 10ba, 10db Get each transmission state.

  In step S28, the transmission / reception unit 51 of the transmission management apparatus 50 uses the terminal IDs “01ab”, “01ba”, “01db” as search keys used in step S27, and the transmission terminals 10ab, 10ba, 10db corresponding to the terminal IDs. Destination state information including “offline”, “online (transmittable)”, and “online (during transmission)” is transmitted to the transmission terminal 10aa via the transmission network 2.

  Thereby, the transmission terminal 10aa grasps the current transmission states “offline”, “online (transmittable)”, and “online (during transmission)” of the transmission terminals 10ab, 10ba, and 10db that are candidates for the destination terminal. be able to.

  In step S29, the terminal extraction unit 54 of the transmission management device 50 searches the destination list management DB 5005 using the terminal ID “01aa” of the transmission terminal 10aa that has requested the login as a search key, and the terminal ID “01aa” of the transmission terminal 10aa. Is extracted as a destination terminal candidate. For example, in the destination list management table shown in FIG. 8, the extracted terminal IDs are “01ab”, “01ba”, and “01db”.

  In step S30, the state management unit 53 of the transmission management device 50 searches the terminal management DB 5003 using the terminal ID “01aa” of the transmission terminal 10aa that has requested the login as a search key, and determines the transmission terminal 10aa that has requested the login. Acquire the transmission status "Online (Transmittable)".

  In steps S31-1 and S31-2, the transmission / reception unit 51 of the transmission management device 50 receives the transmission terminals 10ab, 10ba identified by the terminal IDs “01ab”, “01ba”, and “01db” extracted in step S29. 10 db of the transmission terminal 10 ba and 10 db whose transmission state is “online (transmission possible)” in the terminal management DB 5003 and the terminal ID “01aa” of the transmission terminal 10 aa acquired in step S30 and the transmission state “online”. (During transmission) "is transmitted.

  When transmitting the destination status information to the transmission terminals 10ba and 10db, the transmission / reception unit 51 refers to the IP address of the transmission terminal managed in the terminal management table based on the terminal IDs “01ba” and “01db”. To do.

  Thereby, the terminal ID “01aa” and the transmission state “online (during transmission) of the transmission terminal 10aa that requested the login are transmitted to the transmission terminals 10db and 10ba that can transmit the transmission terminal 10aa that has requested the login as a destination terminal. ) ”.

  When step S28 of the preparatory stage operation is completed, the display control unit 17 of the transmission terminal 10aa determines from the information on the destination list displayed on the display 120 that the terminal participating in the video conference, that is, the transmission state is “ The information of the transmission terminal 10db that is “online (during transmission)” or “online (transmission possible)” is highlighted on the display 120, etc., so that the transmission terminals 10 participating in the video conference or the transmission terminals 10 that can participate are displayed. It can be recognized by the user.

  FIG. 18 is a sequence diagram illustrating a conference participation operation until the transmission terminal 10 enters a participation state for participating in a video conference. Note that FIG. 18 illustrates an example in which the transmission terminal 10aa enters the participation state. In the conference participation operation, various types of information are transmitted and received in the management information session sei (see FIG. 2).

  In step S41, when the user presses the operation button 108 to select participation in the video conference, the operation input reception unit 12 receives a request to participate in the video conference with the transmission terminal 10db.

  In step S42, in response to this request, the transmission / reception unit 11 of the transmission terminal 10aa includes the terminal ID “01aa” of the transmission terminal 10aa and the terminal ID “01db” of the transmission terminal 10db, indicating that it participates in the video conference. The participation request information is transmitted to the transmission management device 50.

  As a result, the transmission / reception unit 51 of the transmission management device 50 can receive the participation request information and confirm the IP address “1.2.1.3” of the transmission terminal 10aa that is the transmission source.

  In step S43, the state management unit 53 of the transmission management device 50 searches the terminal management DB 5003 (see FIG. 10) using the terminal ID “01aa” of the transmission terminal 10aa included in the participation request information as a search key, and requests participation. The transmission state of the transmission terminal 10aa is set to “online (during transmission)”.

  In step S44, the transmission / reception unit 51 of the transmission management device 50 transmits participation request information including the terminal ID “01aa” of the transmission terminal 10aa to the transmission terminal 10db via the transmission network 2. Thereby, the transmission terminal 10db can grasp which transmission terminal 10 has requested to participate in the video conference.

  Although explanation is omitted, in the terminal management DB 5003, since the transmission state of the transmission terminal 10cb is also “online (during transmission)”, the transmission / reception unit 51 of the transmission management device 50 has the terminal ID “01aa of the transmission terminal 10aa. The participation request information including "is transmitted to the transmission terminal 10 cb via the transmission network 2.

  In step S45, the transmission terminal 10db transmits reception completion information indicating that reception of participation request information is completed from the transmission / reception unit 11 to the transmission management device 50 via the transmission network 2.

  In step S <b> 46, the transmission / reception unit 51 of the transmission management device 50 transmits relay start request information indicating a request to start relaying to the relay device 30 via the transmission network 2. The relay start request information includes the IP addresses “1.2.1.3” and “1.3.2.4” of the transmission terminal 10aa and the transmission terminal 10db.

  In step S47, the relay device 30 establishes a session for transmitting three image data of low resolution, medium resolution, and high resolution and sound data between the transmission terminals 10aa and 10db. In this way, the transmission terminal 10aa can participate in a video conference with the transmission terminal 10db.

  In step S48, the transmission / reception unit 51 of the transmission management device 50 registers the terminal state change information including the terminal ID “01aa” of the transmission terminal 10aa and the transmission state “online (during transmission)” in the terminal management DB 5003. Cast to each transmission terminal 10. Thereby, each transmission terminal that has received the terminal state change information can store and display the transmission state of the transmission terminal 10aa with the terminal ID “01aa” as necessary.

  FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation for calculating a cost reduction effect. FIG. 19 shows an example in which a transmission terminal 10aa and a transmission terminal 10db are connected.

  In step S51-1, the transmission terminal 10aa reads the personal ID of the conference participant with an IC card or the like. The personal ID may be manually input to the transmission terminal 10aa.

  In step S52-1, the transmission terminal 10aa transmits the personal ID to the transmission management device 50.

  In step S51-2, the transmission terminal 10db reads the personal ID of the conference participant with an IC card or the like. The personal ID may be manually input to the transmission terminal 10db.

  In step S52-2, the transmission terminal 10db transmits the personal ID to the transmission management device 50.

  In step S53, the transmission / reception unit 51 of the transmission management device 50 receives the personal ID of the conference participant from each transmission terminal. The transmission management device 50 manages the received personal ID for each transmission terminal and records it in the terminal management table.

  In step S54, the acquisition unit 61 of the transmission management device 50 acquires from the terminal management DB 5003 the nearest station of the establishment (base) where the transmission terminal used for the conference is located. The acquisition timing may be any timing.

  In step S55, the reduction cost calculation unit 56 transmits the acquired nearest station to the search device 110, and calculates the transportation cost and the movement amount between the nearest stations.

  In step S56, the reduction cost calculation unit 56 acquires the transportation cost and travel distance between the nearest stations from the search device 110, calculates the reduction cost (for example, transportation cost, travel time) in the remote conference, and the storage / read processing unit 59. The storage / reading processing unit 59 records the acquired transportation cost and travel time in the conference history management table. Thereby, when there is a request for displaying the conference information later, the reduction cost (for example, transportation cost, travel time) can be displayed.

  FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation for calculating and displaying a cost reduction effect. The processing up to step S63 shown in FIG. 20 is the same as the processing up to step S53 shown in FIG.

  In step S64-1, the transmission terminal 10aa detects pressing of the conference end button, and transmits a message indicating the end of the conference to the transmission management device 50.

  Since the process of step S65-S67 is the same as the process of step S54-S56 shown in FIG. 19, the description is abbreviate | omitted.

  In step S68, the transmission management device 50 reads out the conference history information including the transportation cost and travel cost of the conference from the conference history management table, and transmits the conference history information together with the display request to each transmission terminal.

  In step S69-1, the transmission terminal 10aa displays the conference history information received from the transmission management device 50 on the screen.

  In step S69-2, the transmission terminal 10db displays the conference history information received from the transmission management device 50 on the screen. For example, a screen as shown in FIG. 16 is displayed at each transmission terminal.

  FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an operation for displaying conference history information. In step S71 shown in FIG. 21, the information processing apparatus transmits the terminal ID of the transmission terminal to the transmission management apparatus 50 in order to display the conference history information. The information processing apparatus is a PC logged in by a conference participant, a PC logged in by a conference manager, or the like.

  In step S72, the transmission management apparatus 50 receives the terminal ID of the transmission terminal from the information processing apparatus.

  In step S73, the transmission management device 50 searches the conference history information management table for conference history information including the terminal ID, using the received terminal ID as a key.

  In step S74, the transmission management device 50 transmits a search result including the searched conference history information to the information processing device.

  In step S75, the information processing apparatus displays the meeting history information included in the received search result on the screen. Thereby, the conference history information can be displayed at a later date of the conference and the cost reduced by the conference can be grasped.

  As described above, according to the embodiment, it is possible to appropriately and easily visualize the cost reduction effect when the transmission management system is used.

  In addition, the reduction cost calculation part 56 may calculate the reduction effect of travel time as money based on the unit price of working hours corresponding to the position of a meeting participant. In this case, the storage unit 5000 manages a working hour table in which working hour unit prices for individual persons (for example, individual IDs) are associated with each other.

  The reduction cost calculation unit 56 obtains the working unit price corresponding to the ID of the conference participant, and multiplies the individual traveling time by the working unit price, so that the travel time reduction effect can be expressed in money.

  The remote conference is used as an example of communication, the conference participant is used as an example of a communication participant, and the transmission management device is used as an example of a conference management device.

  The program executed in each apparatus of the embodiment is a file in an installable format or an executable format, and is a computer such as a CD-ROM, a flexible disk (FD), a CD-R, a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk). It is recorded on a readable recording medium and provided.

  Further, the program executed in each device of the embodiment may be provided by being stored on a computer connected to a network such as the Internet and downloaded via the network. Further, the program executed by each device of the embodiment may be provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet.

  In addition, a program executed by each device of the embodiment may be provided by being incorporated in advance in a ROM or the like.

  The program executed by each device of the embodiment has a module configuration including the above-described units. As actual hardware, when the CPU reads out and executes a program from the ROM or HDD, one or more of the above-described units are loaded onto the RAM, and one or more of the respective units are generated on the RAM. It has become.

  The transmission system, the transmission management system, the transmission management apparatus, and the program are not limited to the above-described embodiments as they are, and in the implementation stage, the constituent elements may be modified and embodied without departing from the spirit of the invention. Can do. Moreover, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the above embodiments.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Transmission system 10 Transmission terminal 30 Relay apparatus 50 Transmission management apparatus 51 Transmission / reception part 52 Terminal authentication part 53 State management part 54 Terminal extraction part 55 Display control part 56 Reduction cost calculation part 59 Storage / reading process part 110 Search apparatus 5003 Terminal management DB
5004 Meeting history management DB

JP 2006-005590 A

Claims (8)

A transmission management system for controlling communication between a plurality of transmission terminals,
A receiving unit that receives from each transmission terminal first identification information for identifying the transmission terminal and second identification information for identifying a communication participant;
A identifying unit that identifies the nearest station corresponding to the received first identification information based on the information that associates the first identification information with the nearest station;
An acquisition unit that transmits the nearest station corresponding to each transmission terminal to a search engine that searches for a transportation cost and / or travel time, and obtains the transportation cost and / or travel time between the nearest stations from the search engine;
Based on the number of the second identification information counted for each transmission terminal and the transportation cost and / or travel time acquired by the acquisition unit, any one of the bases where the transmission terminal exists A calculation unit for calculating transportation costs and / or travel time required when communication participants gather in
A transmission management system comprising: a storage unit that stores the transportation cost and / or travel time calculated by the calculation unit for each communication. The specific part is:
When the first identification information is an IP address assigned for network connection, it corresponds to the received IP address based on information that associates a plurality of IP addresses possessed by each business office with the nearest station The transmission management system according to claim 1, wherein the nearest station is identified.   And a transmission unit that transmits the communication cost and / or travel time of the communication read from the storage unit to each transmission terminal when notified of the end of communication from at least one transmission terminal of the plurality of transmission terminals. Item 3. The transmission management system according to Item 1 or 2.   And a transmission unit configured to transmit to the information processing terminal, when receiving a communication information acquisition request from the information processing apparatus, the communication cost and / or travel time of the communication to be read from the storage unit. Item 3. The transmission management system according to Item 1 or 2. The calculation unit includes:
The transmission management system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the travel time unit price of the communication participant is multiplied by the travel time, and the travel time is expressed in money. A transmission system for controlling communication between a plurality of transmission terminals,
A program for causing the transmission terminal to execute processing of transmitting first identification information for identifying the transmission terminal and second identification information for identifying a communication participant;
A transmission management device that performs processing based on the first identification information and the second identification information received from the transmission terminal;
The transmission management device includes:
A receiving unit for receiving the first identification information and the second identification information from each transmission terminal;
Based on the station information that associates the first identification information with the nearest station, a specifying unit that specifies the nearest station corresponding to the received first identification information;
An acquisition unit that transmits the nearest station corresponding to each transmission terminal to a search engine that searches for a transportation cost and / or travel time, and obtains the transportation cost and / or travel time between the nearest stations from the search engine;
Based on the number of the second identification information counted for each transmission terminal and the transportation cost and / or travel time acquired by the acquisition unit, any one of the bases where the transmission terminal exists A calculation unit for calculating transportation costs and / or travel time required when communication participants gather in
A transmission system comprising: a storage unit that stores the transportation cost and / or travel time calculated by the calculation unit for each communication. A receiving unit that receives from each transmission terminal first identification information for identifying each transmission terminal used for communication, and second identification information for identifying a communication participant;
Based on the station information that associates the first identification information with the nearest station, a specifying unit that specifies the nearest station corresponding to the received first identification information;
An acquisition unit that transmits the nearest station corresponding to each transmission terminal to a search engine that searches for a transportation cost and / or travel time, and obtains the transportation cost and / or travel time between the nearest stations from the search engine;
Based on the number of the second identification information counted for each transmission terminal and the transportation cost and / or travel time acquired by the acquisition unit, any one of the bases where the transmission terminal exists A calculation unit for calculating transportation costs and / or travel time required when communication participants gather in
A transmission management apparatus comprising: a storage unit that stores the transportation cost and / or travel time calculated by the calculation unit for each communication. A receiving step of receiving, from each transmission terminal, first identification information for identifying each transmission terminal used for communication and second identification information for identifying a communication participant;
A identifying step for identifying the nearest station corresponding to the received first identification information based on the station information associating the first identification information with the nearest station;
An acquisition step of transmitting the nearest station corresponding to each transmission terminal to a search engine for searching for transportation cost and / or travel time, and obtaining the travel cost and / or travel time between nearest stations from the search engine;
Based on the number of the second identification information aggregated for each transmission terminal and the transportation cost and / or travel time acquired in the acquisition step, any one of the bases where the transmission terminal exists A calculation step for calculating a transportation cost and / or travel time required when communication participants gather at
A program for causing a computer to execute a storage step of storing the transportation cost and / or travel time calculated in the calculation step in a storage unit for each communication.

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