JP2015061162A - Communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication service suitable for the performance of a switching destination terminal to the switching destination terminal when handover between terminals is performed.SOLUTION: A communication system has a first terminal TA, and a second terminal TB and a third terminal TC which can communicate with the first terminal TA through a network. The second terminal TB, when receiving from a user a request to switch a terminal to the third terminal TC from the terminal itself during communication with the first terminal TA, acquires performance information on the hardware performance of the third terminal TC from the third terminal TC, and transmits to the first terminal TA a terminal switching request together with the acquired performance information on the third terminal TC. The first terminal TA, when communicating with the third terminal TC in accordance with the terminal switching request received from the second terminal TB, transmits to the third terminal TC quality data in accordance with the performance information on the third terminal TC.

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication system in which a plurality of terminals are connected via a network.

  Recently, since a user owns a plurality of communication terminals such as a mobile phone, a tablet, a personal computer, and a television, the necessity for handover between terminals is increasing. Handover between terminals refers to, for example, a technique for switching one mobile phone (switching source terminal) to another terminal (switching destination terminal) such as a personal computer during a call between the mobile phones ( For example, see Japanese Patent No. 4321806 (Patent Document 1).

  In a broad sense, for example, when continuity of communication services is not necessarily required, such as when switching from viewing a content on a mobile terminal while moving to viewing on a television after arriving at the destination, May be referred to as handover. However, in this specification, a technique for switching terminals while continuing a communication service is called handover between terminals.

Japanese Patent No. 4321806

  In the case of the prior art disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent No. 4321806 (Patent Document 1), when handover between terminals is performed, the performance difference between the switching source terminal and the switching destination terminal (for example, the performance of the display device) Differences and communication device performance differences) are not considered. For this reason, for example, when one mobile phone (switching source terminal) is switched to a personal computer (switching destination terminal) during a videophone call between mobile phones (handover between terminals), the switching source mobile phone is displayed on the switching destination personal computer screen. There may be a problem that a low-resolution image for a telephone is displayed as it is.

  Thus, in the conventional inter-terminal handover, since the communication service is continued at the switching destination terminal while maintaining the communication quality provided to the switching source terminal, a communication service not suitable for the performance of the switching destination terminal is provided. There was a problem of being.

  The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a communication service suitable for the performance of the switching destination terminal to the switching destination terminal when performing inter-terminal handover. It is to be.

  A communication system according to an embodiment includes a first terminal and second and third terminals that can communicate with the first terminal via a network. When the second terminal receives a request for switching the terminal from its own terminal to the third terminal during communication with the first terminal from the user, the second terminal receives performance information regarding the performance of the hardware of the third terminal. And a terminal switching request is transmitted to the first terminal together with the acquired performance information of the third terminal. The first terminal is configured to transmit data of quality corresponding to the performance information of the third terminal to the third terminal when communicating with the third terminal according to the terminal switching request received from the second terminal. Is done.

  According to the above embodiment, a communication service suitable for the performance of the switching destination terminal can be provided to the switching destination terminal when performing inter-terminal handover.

1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a communication system according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows roughly each functional structure of terminal TA-TC. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for handover between terminals in the communication system of FIG. 1. It is a figure which shows an example of the relationship between the screen size of the display part of a switching destination terminal, and the image quality of the image data which transmits. It is a figure which shows an example of the relationship between the communication speed performance of the communication apparatus of a switching destination terminal, and the image quality of the image data which transmits. It is a figure which shows the structure of the communication system by Embodiment 2. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of terminal switching management server MS roughly. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for handover between terminals in the communication system of FIG. 6. It is a figure which shows an example of terminal management information in a table format. It is a figure which shows an example of the terminal switching destination candidate list displayed on the display part of a switching source terminal.

  Hereinafter, each embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will not be repeated.

<Embodiment 1>
[Configuration of communication system]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a communication system according to the first embodiment. Referring to FIG. 1, the communication system includes a terminal TA and a plurality of terminals TB and TC that can communicate with the terminal TA via a network. In the example of FIG. 1, the terminal TA is a tablet terminal, the terminal TB is a smartphone, and the terminal TC is a personal computer. Each of the terminals TB and TC can transmit data such as characters, voices and images to and from the terminal TA via the network, and can make a videophone call with the terminal TA.

[Hardware configuration of each terminal]
FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a functional configuration of each of the terminals TA to TC. Referring to FIG. 2, each of terminals TA to TC includes a central processing unit (CPU) 10, a random access memory (RAM) 11, a read only memory (ROM) 12, an auxiliary memory 13, and an imaging device 14. , Communication devices 15 and 16, audio signal processing circuit 17, microphone 18, speaker 19, input unit 20, and display unit 21. However, the function and performance of these components are different for each terminal.

  The CPU 10 controls the entire terminal by executing a control program stored in advance in the ROM 12 and the auxiliary memory 13 or executes application software requested by the user. The RAM 11 and ROM 12 are used as the main memory of the CPU 10.

  The auxiliary memory 13 is configured by, for example, a nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory and / or a hard disk. The auxiliary memory 13 stores an application program such as a videophone.

  The imaging device 14 can capture a moving image and output it in real time, and is used as a videophone camera.

  The communication device 15 communicates with a communication device provided in another terminal via a network. The communication device 15 may be connected to the network by either wireless communication or wired communication. For example, in the communication system of FIG. 1, each communication device 15 of the terminal TA (tablet terminal) and the terminal TB (smartphone) has a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) and / or a mobile phone communication function, and the terminal TC The communication device 15 of (personal computer) has a communication function for a wired LAN and / or a fixed telephone. Note that the performance of the communication device 15 varies from terminal to terminal.

  The communication device 16 is a communication device such as NFC (Near Field Communication) and Bluetooth (registered trademark) for communicating with a terminal at a relatively short distance via the antenna 22. In the first embodiment, the communication device 16 is provided in the terminals TB and TC, but is not provided in the terminal TA.

  The audio signal processing circuit 17 performs AD (Analog-to-Digital) conversion on the audio signal detected by the microphone 18 and performs signal processing such as encoding and noise removal on the converted digital audio signal. The audio signal processing circuit 17 further performs predetermined signal processing on the digital signal to be acoustically output and outputs it to the speaker 19. Note that the CPU 10 may execute the function based on a program without providing the audio signal processing circuit 17.

  The display unit 21 is configured by a liquid crystal display panel or the like, and displays character information and an image based on a command from the CPU 10. The performance of the display unit 21, such as the screen size, differs depending on each terminal. For example, in the case of the communication system of FIG. 1, the screen size of the display unit 21 of the terminal TC (personal computer) is larger than the screen size of the display unit 21 of the terminal TB (smart phone).

  The input unit 20 is hardware for the input unit 20 to accept a processing request from the user when the user performs input operations such as numbers and characters on each terminal. For example, in the communication system of FIG. 1, the terminal TA (tablet terminal) and the terminal TB (smartphone) include a touch panel as the input unit 20, and the terminal TC (personal computer) includes a keyboard and a mouse as the input unit 20.

[Handover procedure between terminals]
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure for handover between terminals in the communication system of FIG. Hereinafter, a procedure for handover between terminals will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, it is assumed that the terminal TA (tablet terminal) and the terminal TB (smartphone) are talking on the videophone system (step S110). In this case, relatively low-resolution moving image data is transmitted from the terminal TA to the terminal TB in accordance with the screen size of the display unit 21 of the smartphone.

  When the terminal TB receives a request for switching the terminal from its own terminal (switching source) to the terminal TC (switching destination) (request for handover between terminals) from the user via the input unit 20, the performance of the hardware of the terminal TC The performance information regarding is acquired from the terminal TC (step S120). Communication between the terminal TB and the terminal TC is performed via a communication device 16 for relatively short distance such as NFC (Near Field Communication) and Bluetooth (registered trademark). When the terminal TB and the terminal TC are connected to a common wireless LAN, communication may be performed via the wireless LAN. The performance information of the terminal TC includes information on the screen size of the display unit 21 and information on the communication speed of the communication device 15. For example, the screen size of the display unit 21 of the terminal TC is 32 inches, and the communication speed of the communication device 15 of the terminal TC is 50 Mbps.

  Next, the terminal TB transmits a terminal switching request from the terminal TB to the terminal TC together with the acquired performance information of the terminal TC via the network to the terminal TA (communication partner) (step S130). In response to the terminal switching request notified from the terminal TB, the terminal TA executes an optimization process for determining the quality of communication data to be transmitted to the switching destination terminal TC (step S140).

  The procedure of communication data optimization processing is as follows. First, the CPU 10 of the terminal TA temporarily determines the image quality according to the acquired screen size of the display unit 21 of the terminal TC based on a predetermined relationship between the screen size and the image quality (resolution). Next, the CPU 10 of the terminal TA temporarily determines the image quality corresponding to the acquired communication speed of the communication device 15 of the terminal TC based on the relationship between the predetermined communication speed and the image quality (resolution). The CPU 10 of the terminal TA finally determines the lower image quality among the temporarily determined image quality as the image quality of the image data actually transmitted to the terminal TC. Hereinafter, further description will be given with specific examples.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of the relationship between the screen size of the display unit of the switching destination terminal and the image quality of image data to be transmitted in a table format. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between the communication speed performance of the communication device of the switching destination terminal and the image quality of image data to be transmitted in a table format. The relationship shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is stored in advance in the auxiliary memory 13 of the terminal TA.

  2, 4, and 5, when the screen size of the display unit 21 of the terminal TC is 32 inches, the CPU 10 of the terminal TA uses the table shown in FIG. 4 to transmit image data to be transmitted to the terminal TC. The image quality is provisionally determined to be high image quality (1000 × 800). When the communication speed of the communication device 15 of the terminal TC is 50 Mbps, the CPU 10 of the terminal TA temporarily determines the image quality of the image data to be transmitted to the terminal TC as medium image quality (600 × 400) based on the table shown in FIG. The CPU 10 of the terminal TA finally determines the lower medium image quality (600 × 400) as the image quality of the image data to be transmitted to the terminal TC based on these determination results.

  1 to 3 again, after executing the communication data optimization process (step S140), the terminal TA establishes a communication connection with the terminal TC (step S150). Thereafter, the terminal TA notifies the terminal TB of the start of terminal switching (step S160) and starts communication with the terminal TC (step S170). As described above, the handover from the terminal TB to the terminal TC is realized while the communication with the terminal TA that is the communication partner is continued.

[effect]
According to the communication system of the first embodiment, when performing handover between terminals from the terminal TB to the terminal TC, data of appropriate quality according to the performance of the hardware of the terminal TC that is the switching destination is transmitted. Is transmitted from the terminal TA. As a result, the user can receive a communication service suitable for the performance of the switching destination terminal.

  The image quality of the image data transmitted from the terminal TA to the terminal TC is considered to be related to the performance of the imaging device 14 of the terminal TA and the communication speed of the communication device 15 of the terminal TA. However, in the description of the first embodiment, for the sake of simplicity, the performance of these hardware is sufficiently high, and does not affect the image quality of image data to be transmitted.

<Embodiment 2>
[Configuration of communication system]
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a communication system according to the second embodiment. Referring to FIG. 6, the communication system according to the second embodiment further includes a terminal TD (tablet terminal) and a terminal TE (television receiver) as a plurality of communication terminals capable of communicating with terminal TA via a network. Thus, it is different from the communication system according to the first embodiment of FIG. Terminals TB to TE are owned by a common user, and any of them can make a videophone call with terminal TA.

  The communication system according to the second embodiment is different from the communication system of FIG. 1 in that it further includes a terminal switching management server MS that can communicate with these terminals TA to TE via a network. The terminal switching management server MS manages the name of the terminal (identification information) owned by each user and the performance information related to the hardware performance of each terminal (hereinafter, these pieces of information are collectively referred to as terminal management information). ).

  FIG. 7 is a block diagram schematically showing the configuration of the terminal switching management server MS. Referring to FIG. 7, terminal switching management server MS includes a CPU 10, a RAM 11, a ROM 12, an auxiliary memory 13, a communication device 15, an input unit 20, a display unit 21, and the like. Since these constituent elements have substantially the same function as the terminal TC (personal computer) described in FIG. 2, the same or corresponding elements are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof will not be repeated. Note that the terminal management information of the terminals TA to TE is stored in advance in the auxiliary memory 13 of the terminal switching management server MS.

[Handover procedure between terminals]
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a procedure for handover between terminals in the communication system of FIG. Hereinafter, a procedure for handover between terminals will be described with reference to FIGS.

  First, it is assumed that the terminal TA (tablet terminal) and the terminal TB (smartphone) are in a telephone call using the videophone system (step S210). In this case, relatively low-resolution moving image data is transmitted from the terminal TA to the terminal TB in accordance with the screen size of the display unit 21 of the smartphone.

  When the terminal TB receives a request for switching the terminal from its own terminal (switching source) to another terminal (request for handover between terminals) from the user via the input unit 20, the terminal TB switches to the terminal switching management server MS. Is requested to send a list listing the candidates (step S220). The terminal switching management server MS transmits a list of terminals owned by the user of the terminal TB to the terminal TB based on the terminal management information stored in its own auxiliary memory 13 (step S230). The terminal TB prompts the user to select a switching destination terminal by displaying the list of switching destination terminal candidates received from the terminal switching management server MS on its own display unit 21.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of the terminal management information in a table format. Referring to FIG. 9, the terminal management information includes a user name, a terminal name owned by each user, and information on hardware performance of each terminal (screen size of display unit 21 and communication device 15 Communication speed) and network connection status (connected / not connected).

  When the CPU 10 of the terminal switching management server MS receives a request for sending a candidate for the switching destination from the terminal TB, among the terminals owned by the user Y of the terminal TB, the names of the terminal TC and the terminal TE currently connected to the network To the terminal TB as a candidate for the switching destination terminal.

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a terminal switching destination candidate list displayed on the display unit of the switching source terminal. The terminal TB displays the names (identification information) of the terminal TC and the terminal TE transmitted from the terminal switching management server MS as candidates for the switching destination terminal on the display unit 21.

  Referring to FIGS. 6 to 8 again, when the user inputs information specifying the switching destination terminal to terminal TB via input unit 20, terminal TB uses the name (identification information) of the specified switching destination terminal to the terminal. It transmits to the switching management server MS (step S240).

  Next, the terminal switching management server MS transmits a terminal switching request from the terminal TB to the terminal TC together with the performance information of the terminal TC designated as the switching destination terminal to the terminal TA (communication partner) (step S250). The terminal switching management server MS further notifies the terminal TC (switching destination terminal) of a terminal switching request from the terminal TB to the terminal TC (step S260).

  In response to the terminal switching request notified from the terminal switching management server MS, the terminal TA executes an optimization process for determining the quality of communication data to be transmitted to the switching destination terminal TC (step S270). The specific contents of the communication data optimization process are the same as in step S140 of FIG.

  After executing the communication data optimization process (step S270), the terminal TA establishes a communication connection with the terminal TC (step S280). Thereafter, the terminal TA notifies the terminal TB of the start of terminal switching (step S290) and starts communication with the terminal TC (step S300). As described above, handover from the terminal TA to the terminal TC is realized while continuing communication with the terminal TA that is the communication partner.

[effect]
According to the communication system of the first embodiment, as in the case of the first embodiment, when performing handover between terminals from the terminal TB to the terminal TC, the hardware performance of the terminal TC that is the switching destination is improved. Corresponding quality data is transmitted from the terminal TA which is the communication partner. In particular, in the case of the second embodiment, handover between terminals is possible even when there is no communication means between the switching source terminal and the switching destination terminal, thereby enabling the user to provide a communication service suitable for the performance of the switching destination terminal. Can receive.

  The embodiment disclosed this time must be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

  10 CPU, 13 auxiliary memory, 14 imaging device, 15, 16 communication device, 20 input unit, 21 display unit, 22 antenna, TA to TE terminal, MS terminal switching management server.

Claims (5)

A first terminal;
A second and a third terminal capable of communicating with the first terminal via a network;
When the second terminal receives a request from the user to switch the terminal from its own terminal to the third terminal during communication with the first terminal, the second terminal obtains performance information related to the hardware performance of the third terminal. Acquired from the third terminal, and configured to transmit a terminal switching request together with the acquired performance information of the third terminal to the first terminal;
When the first terminal communicates with the third terminal in accordance with a terminal switching request received from the second terminal, the first terminal sends data of quality corresponding to the performance information of the third terminal to the third terminal. A communication system configured to transmit. A first terminal;
Second and third terminals communicable with the first terminal via a network;
A server capable of communicating with each of the first to third terminals via the network;
The second terminal is configured to transmit a terminal switching request to the server when receiving a request for switching the terminal from the own terminal to the third terminal during communication with the first terminal from a user.
The server stores in advance performance information related to the hardware performance of each of the first to third terminals, and responds to a terminal switching request received from the second terminal in response to the performance of the third terminal. Configured to transmit a terminal switching request together with information to the first terminal;
When the first terminal communicates with the third terminal according to the terminal switching request received from the server, the first terminal transmits data of quality corresponding to the performance information of the third terminal to the third terminal. A communication system configured as follows. The server previously stores, as management information, identification information of a plurality of terminals connectable to the network and information of users who own each terminal,
The second terminal is configured to request the server to send a list of switching destination terminal candidates when receiving a switching request to another terminal during communication with the first terminal from a user,
When the server receives a request for sending a list of switching destination terminal publications from the second terminal, the server refers to the management information to obtain identification information of other terminals owned by the user of the second terminal. The communication system according to claim 2, configured to transmit to a second terminal. The performance information is
Information on the screen size of the display device that each terminal has,
The communication system of any one of Claims 1-3 including the information of the communication speed of the communication apparatus which each terminal has.   When the first terminal receives a terminal switching request to the third terminal, the first terminal transmits image data to be transmitted to the third terminal according to information on a screen size of the display device included in the third terminal. The image quality is provisionally determined, and the image quality of the image data to be transmitted to the third terminal is provisionally determined in accordance with the communication speed information of the communication device of the third terminal. The communication system according to claim 4, configured to actually transmit image data to the third terminal with image quality.

Images