JP3885753B2 - Terminal URI discovery system and method, and terminal - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a terminal URI discovery system and method. And terminals In particular, a terminal URI discovery system and method for acquiring URIs (Uniform Resource Identifiers) of terminals of conference participants And terminals About.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent years, instant messaging / presence services using the Internet and mobile phone networks have begun to spread. In the presence service, the user has a terminal corresponding to the presence service, and the user's own presence information (such as being present, away from the office, being taken in, and going out) is input to this terminal. This presence information is delivered to a terminal corresponding to the presence service of another user. By using the presence service, users can know the presence status of other users in real time. However, in the current presence system, it is troublesome to input a presence address. For example, when it is desired to obtain the presence information of all conference participants who will participate in the future, it is necessary to manually input the presence addresses of all conference participants to the terminal. For this reason, a method of automatically acquiring the presence address without manually inputting from the terminal is conceivable. As a method of acquiring the IP address of a conventional conference participant's terminal corresponding to this presence address, for example, JP Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-207680 is disclosed. In this Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2002-207680, the organizer operates the organizer's terminal and registers information related to the conference scheduled to be held in the host terminal. The host terminal transmits an e-mail notifying that the meeting is held to the terminal of the prospective participant before the registered scheduled start time of the scheduled meeting. The host terminal confirms the attendee based on the received reply and obtains the IP address of the terminal attached to the reply. The host terminal notifies each participant's terminal 500 of the acquired IP address.
[0003]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2002-207680
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-207680, the host terminal allows a conference participant who has received an e-mail to browse a menu page by selecting a URL described in hyper format in the e-mail, and performs a predetermined operation according to the menu page. By taking the procedure, the IP address of the terminal used by the conference participant is obtained, so if the host terminal is not accessed despite the conference participant, There is a problem that the IP address of the conference participant cannot be acquired, that is, each terminal cannot know the IP addresses of all the conference participants when necessary.
[0005]
Further, in the page browsing method in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-207680, when a host terminal that manages a page notifies a conference participant by e-mail, the conference participant browses the page along with the notification, Since the host terminal obtains the IP address of the terminal that entered the necessary information by inputting the necessary information according to the procedure, the conference participation that received the e-mail is not necessarily received even if notified by e-mail If the viewer does not always see the e-mail and the viewer does not follow the prescribed procedure even if the page is viewed, the host terminal obtains the IP address of the conference participant's terminal and the conference participant The problem is that the IP address of the conference participant's terminal cannot be obtained, and the conference participant's terminal is sent to the conference participant's terminal by e-mail. Because it is P address notification, there is a problem that people must intervene.
[0006]
In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is for a conference participant's terminal to automatically extract the URIs of all conference participants' terminals when necessary.
[0007]
Another object of the present invention is for a conference participant's terminal to obtain presence information of a conference participant when necessary without manually inputting a presence address.
[0008]
Another object of the present invention is to make it easy to obtain a conference participant's URI accompanying browsing of a page without using an e-mail when necessary.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, the first terminal URI discovery system of the present invention is connected via a network. Communicate A terminal URI discovery system for acquiring a terminal URI, Including a conference organizer terminal and a plurality of conference participant terminals, Said Meeting organizer Terminal , Meeting An email with an embedded party key indicating a group of participants Above Join the meeting Person Sending means to send to the end Have , The conference participant terminal Storage means for extracting and storing the party key from the email when the email is received; From the control panel of your terminal URI identifying the terminal of the conference participant An instruction means for receiving an acquisition instruction, and when receiving the acquisition instruction Create a URI request packet in which the party key stored in the storage means is embedded. To all terminals connected to the network Broadcast or Addressed to a predetermined group of terminals connected to the network Request means for transmitting by multicast, search means for searching whether the party key extracted from the URI request packet is the same as the party key stored in the storage means when the URI request packet is received, and If the same party key exists as a result of searching by the search means, a reply means for creating a response packet including the URI of the own terminal and returning it to the request source;
When receiving the response packet returned by the reply means, extracting means for extracting from the response packet information of the sender including the URI of the sender; Have It is characterized by that.
[0010]
Furthermore, in the first terminal URI discovery system, Meeting organizer The terminal URI discovery system according to claim 1, wherein the terminal includes a generation unit that generates the party key from an electronic mail in which identification information indicating that the meeting is held is embedded when the electronic mail is transmitted.
[0011]
Also, the second terminal URI discovery system of the present invention is connected via a network. Communicate A terminal URI discovery system for acquiring a terminal URI, Including the conference terminal and the conference participant terminal, Said Meeting organizer Terminal , Meeting E-mail with embedded identification information Above Join the meeting Person Sending means to send to the end Have , The conference participant terminal Storage means for storing the e-mail when the e-mail is received; From the control panel of your terminal URI identifying the terminal of the conference participant An instruction means for receiving an acquisition instruction, and when receiving the acquisition instruction URI request packet in which the email ID of the email is embedded Means for making an acquisition request, Create To all terminals connected to the network Broadcast or Addressed to a predetermined group of terminals connected to the network A request means for sending by multicast and a search is made as to whether or not the e-mail ID extracted from the URI request packet when the URI request packet is received is the same as the e-mail ID of the e-mail stored in the storage means A search means, a reply means for creating a response packet including a URI identifying its own terminal if the same e-mail ID exists as a result of the search by the search means, and a reply packet sent back by the reply means. Receiving means for extracting information on the sender including the URI of the sender from the response packet; Have It is characterized by that.
[0012]
Furthermore, in the second terminal URI discovery system of the present invention, Meeting participants The terminal is characterized by comprising subscription means for subscribing presence information from a terminal corresponding to the extracted URI based on the URI extracted by the extracting means.
[0013]
Furthermore, in the first terminal URI discovery system, the reply unit includes a unit that creates a response packet including a user name, and the extraction unit extracts the transmission source information including the user name. And the terminal comprises registration means for registering the user name extracted by the extraction means and the URI of the transmission source in a telephone book held in advance in the terminal itself.
[0014]
Further, the third terminal URI discovery system of the present invention is connected via a network. Communicate A terminal URI discovery system for acquiring a terminal URI, Including a conference organizer terminal, a conference participant terminal, and a server, Said Holding a meeting Terminal , Meeting A homepage with a party key indicating the group of participants Above Registration means to register to server Have , Above Join the meeting Expert End Is Storage means for acquiring the home page from the server and extracting and storing the party key from the acquired home page; From the control panel of your terminal URI identifying the terminal of the conference participant An instruction means for receiving an acquisition instruction, and when receiving the acquisition instruction Create a URI request packet in which the party key stored in the storage means is embedded. To all terminals connected to the network Broadcast or Addressed to a predetermined group of terminals connected to the network Request means for transmitting by multicast; search means for searching whether the party key extracted from the URI request packet is the same as the party key stored in the storage means when the URI request packet is received; If the same party key exists as a result of the search by the search means, a reply means that creates a response packet including the URI of its own terminal and sends it back to the request source; Extraction means for extracting from the response packet the information of the transmission source including: Have It is characterized by that.
[0015]
Furthermore, in the first, second, or third terminal URI discovery system, the URI is a presence address.
[0016]
Furthermore, in the first terminal URI discovery system, the URI is a SIP address or an instant message address.
[0017]
The first terminal URI discovery method of the present invention is a terminal URI discovery method for acquiring a terminal URI by transmitting / receiving information between terminals via a network, wherein the terminal , Meeting A step of transmitting an email in which a party key indicating a group of conference participants is embedded to a conference participant's terminal; and a step of extracting the party key from the email when the email is received and storing the party key in a storage unit When, From the control panel of your terminal URI identifying the terminal of the conference participant Receiving the acquisition instruction and when receiving the acquisition instruction Create a URI request packet in which the party key stored in the storage unit is embedded. To all terminals connected to the network Broadcast or Addressed to a predetermined group of terminals connected to the network A step of transmitting by multicast, a step of searching whether the party key extracted from the URI request packet when the URI request packet is received is the same as the party key stored in the storage unit, and a result of the search If there is the same party key, a step of creating a response packet including the URI of the own terminal and returning the response packet to the request source; It is characterized by including.
[0018]
Further, in the first terminal URI discovery method described above, the terminal includes a step of generating the party key from an electronic mail in which identification information indicating that a meeting is held is transmitted when the electronic mail is transmitted.
[0019]
The second terminal URI discovery method of the present invention is a terminal URI discovery method for acquiring a terminal URI by transmitting and receiving information between terminals via a network. , Meeting Embedding identification information indicating the holding of a meeting, transmitting an e-mail to a conference participant's terminal, storing the e-mail in a reception mailbox when the e-mail is received, From the control panel of your terminal URI identifying the terminal of the conference participant Receiving the acquisition instruction and when receiving the acquisition instruction Create a URI request packet with the email ID embedded in the email To all terminals connected to the network Broadcast or Addressed to a predetermined group of terminals connected to the network A step of transmitting by multicast, and if the URI request packet is received, a search is performed to determine whether an email ID extracted from the URI request packet is the same as the email ID of the email stored in the reception mailbox A response packet including a URI identifying its own terminal if the same e-mail ID exists as a result of the search, and returning the response packet to the request source; and when the response packet is received, the transmission source including the URI of the transmission source Extracting information from the response packet.
[0020]
Furthermore, in the first terminal URI discovery method described above, the terminal includes a step of subscribing presence information from a terminal corresponding to the extracted URI based on the URI extracted in the extracting step. .
[0021]
Furthermore, in the first terminal URI discovery method, the terminal includes the step of creating a response including a user name in the response packet and the source including the user name in the extracting step. And a step of registering the extracted user name and the URI of the transmission source in a telephone book held in advance in the terminal.
[0022]
The third terminal URI discovery method of the present invention is a terminal URI discovery method for acquiring a terminal URI by transmitting and receiving information between terminals via a network. , Meeting Website with embedded party key indicating the group of participants The The steps to register ,in front Acquiring the homepage from the server and extracting the party key from the acquired homepage and storing it in a storage unit; From the control panel of your terminal URI identifying the terminal of the conference participant Receiving the acquisition instruction and when receiving the acquisition instruction Create a URI request packet in which the party key stored in the storage unit is embedded. To all terminals connected to the network Broadcast or Addressed to a predetermined group of terminals connected to the network A step of transmitting by multicast, a step of searching whether the party key extracted from the URI request packet when the URI request packet is received is the same as the party key stored in the storage unit, and a result of the search If there is the same party key, a step of creating a response packet including the URI of the own terminal and returning the response packet to the request source; It is characterized by including.
[0023]
Further, in the first, second, or third terminal URI discovery method, the URI is a presence address.
[0024]
Furthermore, in the first terminal URI discovery method described above, the URI is a SIP address or an instant message address.
[0025]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Next, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0026]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a network system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. This network system operates under program control by a network 900 and a processor (CPU) not shown. Terminal 1, 2, 3, 4. In this embodiment, in order to simplify the following description, the terminal of the conference organizer is the terminal 1, the terminal of the conference participant A is the terminal 2, the conference participant B is the terminal 3, and the non-conference participant Terminal C is terminal 4. Moreover, there is no restriction | limiting in the number of terminals of a conference participant with respect to a meeting organizer's terminal, and the number of terminals of a non-conference participant. The terminals of the conference organizer, the conference participant, and the conference non-participant are described as different devices, but are devices having the same configuration.
[0027]
Referring to FIG. 2, it is a block diagram showing the configuration in the terminals 1, 2, 3, and 4 of FIG. 1, and is a block diagram centered on functional blocks when a processor (not shown) operates under program control. It is. That is, each terminal 1, 2, 3, 4 includes a mail software unit 51, a party key storage unit 52, an address discovery request unit 53, an address discovery response unit 54, a presence subscription unit 55, and a presence distribution unit. 56. Each terminal 1, 2, 3, 4 has an interface unit (not shown) that exchanges data with the network 900, and each functional block in the terminal 1, 2, 3, 4 is a network. When exchanging with 900, the exchange is performed through this interface unit. In the following description, even if the interface unit is omitted, data is exchanged with the apparatus via this interface unit.
[0028]
The mail software unit 51 of FIG. 2 has means for creating, sending / receiving, and displaying electronic mail. The mail software unit 51 includes a means for creating a “party key” indicating a group of conference participants and attaching it to the transmission e-mail, and a means for extracting the party key from the received e-mail in addition to the normal e-mail transmission / reception function. And have. The mail software unit 51 also has means for designating a received mail and instructing the address discovery request unit 53 to make a discovery request. The party key in this case is a key that uniquely identifies the conference.
[0029]
The party key storage unit 52 of FIG. 2 is allocated in a storage unit (not shown) (for example, a memory, a magnetic disk device, etc.), and as shown in FIG. 7, an electronic mail ID (mail number in the figure) and The party key is stored on the table as one element. In this case, the e-mail ID becomes a key for the party key search. Furthermore, the email ID is a key for uniquely identifying an email from a plurality of emails such as “Message-Id”.
[0030]
The address discovery request unit 53 in FIG. 2 accepts the party key as an input, and generates and transmits a discovery request packet. Further, the address discovery request unit 53 receives a response packet to the discovery request packet. The discovery request packet in this case is a packet in which a conference participant requests a presence address of another conference participant.
[0031]
The address discovery response unit 54 in FIG. 2 receives the discovery request packet and transmits (replies) the discovery response packet as a response. In this case, the address discovery response unit 51 of the terminal of the conference participant sends a discovery response by the address discovery response unit 54 when the discovery request packet includes the party key registered in the party key storage unit 52 of the own terminal. return.
[0032]
The presence subscription unit 55 in FIG. 2 performs presence subscription via the presence distribution unit 56 by transmitting and receiving a presence subscription request packet that is a presence subscription request. Presence subscription means that a certain terminal requests distribution of presence information to another terminal.
[0033]
The presence distribution unit 56 of FIG. 2 has means for transmitting / receiving presence information packets for presence subscription request packets.
[0034]
The presence address indicates the address of each terminal in which each terminal user stores his / her state (for example, information on whether he / she is busy, in a meeting, or free). In this case, the presence address is an IP address.
[0035]
Next, the operation of the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
[0036]
It is assumed that the conference organizer knows the email addresses or mailing list addresses of the conference participants A and B but does not know the presence address. Also, it is assumed that conference participants other than the conference organizer do not know each other's presence address. That is, the presence address (in this case, the IP address) used in the first embodiment is a specific URI address. A URI (Uniform Resource Identifiers) is a description method of a comprehensive concept (generally speaking) indicating the location of information resources existing on the Internet, and corresponds to an “address” of information on the Internet.
[0037]
First, when the conference organizer makes a conference opening notification, the mail software unit 51 of the terminal 1 is activated from an operation unit (not shown). The meeting organizer makes a state in which it can be analyzed that it is a meeting holding notification mail on the receiving side, and instructs the mail software section 51 to transmit from the operation section. That is, in order to make it possible to analyze that it is a meeting holding notification mail, the meeting organizer can, for example, send e-mail from the user interface of the mail software unit 51 (input from an operation unit not shown while viewing the screen). Create an outgoing mail that includes “Meeting Notice” as part of the title of the subject and send it.
[0038]
In this case, the mail software unit 51 instructed to send an e-mail according to the above behaves (operates) as shown in the flowchart of FIG.
[0039]
Upon receiving the transmission instruction, the mail software unit 51 of the terminal 1 determines whether there is a “meeting notification” from the title of the e-mail (steps S101 and S102 in FIG. 3).
[0040]
When “conference opening notice” is detected in the e-mail title, the mail software section 51 of the terminal 1 generates a party key (step S103). In this case, the mail software unit 51 generates a party key using an algorithm that makes the party key unique. Here, a party key is generated from a random number and a mail domain name. That is, the party key is randomly generated every time an e-mail for a new conference is issued.
[0041]
In steps S101 and S102, in order to generate a party key, the “conference holding notification” included in the title input by the meeting organizer is used as identification information indicating the holding of the meeting, but is specified in the body of the e-mail. A character string (which may include alphanumeric characters), a file name of an attached file, or the like may be used as identification information indicating that the meeting is held.
[0042]
Further, the mail software unit 51 of the terminal 1 embeds the generated party key in the transmission e-mail and transmits it to the conference participants A and B via the network 900 (steps S104 and S105). Specifically, in order to embed the party key, the mail software unit 51 adds an extension header such as “X-Party-Key:” to the header field portion of the outgoing mail, or adds another part of Multipart email ( Email attachments). An example of the mail generated here is shown in FIG.
[0043]
When the mail software unit 51 of each of the terminals 2 and 3 of the conference participants A and B receives the electronic mail, the mail software unit 51 behaves (operates) as shown in FIG.
[0044]
The mail software unit 51 determines whether there is a party key from the received electronic mail (steps S201 and S202 in FIG. 4).
[0045]
When the party key is detected in the email, the mail software unit 51 of the terminals 2 and 3 takes out the party key from the received email (step S203).
[0046]
Further, the mail software unit 51 of the terminals 2 and 3 stores the party key in the party key storage unit 52 using the electronic mail ID as a key. Further, the mail software unit 51 puts the received e-mail in a received mailbox (existing in a storage unit not shown) in its own terminal in the same manner as a normal e-mail, and sends a conference opening notification e-mail to the conference participants. Display that mail has arrived on the screen of your terminal. (Steps S204 and S205).
[0047]
Next, when the terminal 2 of the conference participant A wants to know the presence addresses of all the conference participants, the conference organizer is notified from the user interface of the mail software unit 51, and the conference participant is notified to the mail software unit 51. The presence address acquisition instruction is performed. For example, when the conference participant A right-clicks the e-mail selection list box displayed on the screen by the mail software unit 51, a pop-up menu appears, and the “conference participant presence” displayed by the mail software unit 51 therein is displayed. For example, an operation of selecting an item called “subscription”.
[0048]
The mail software unit 51 instructed to obtain the presence address from the operation unit of the terminal 2 behaves (operates) as shown in FIG.
[0049]
The mail software unit 51 of the terminal 2 takes out the email ID of the currently selected conference opening notification email. The mail software unit 51 searches whether the electronic mail ID is stored (exists) in the party key storage unit 52 (steps S301 and S302).
[0050]
When the electronic mail ID exists, the mail software unit 51 extracts the party key using the existing electronic mail as a key from the party key storage unit 52 and passes the extracted party key to the address discovery request unit 53 (step S303). .
[0051]
Upon receiving the party key, the address discovery request unit 53 generates a discovery request packet (step 304). In this case, the discovery request packet includes an IP address of the discovery request transmission source (IP address of the own terminal) and a party key.
[0052]
Further, the address discovery request unit 53 of the terminal 2 broadcasts / multicasts the generated discovery request packet to the network 900 (step S305). In this case, the broadcast transmission is addressed to all terminals connected to the network 900, and the multicast transmission is addressed to terminals of a predetermined group (grouping by IP address) connected to the network 900. Whether to transmit by broadcast or multicast can be selected from the screen at the time of transmission (omitted in the following description). Note that it may be set in advance to either broadcast or multicast without selection.
[0053]
The broadcast / multicast discovery request packet is received by the terminals 3 and 4 and the following processing is performed. The address discovery response unit 54 of the terminal 3 of the conference participant B behaves (operates) as shown in FIG.
[0054]
When receiving the discovery request packet, the address discovery response unit 54 of the terminal 3 extracts the transmission source IP address and the party key from the discovery request packet (step S401).
[0055]
The address discovery response unit 54 of the terminal 3 searches for the party key in the party key storage unit 52 using the party key acquired at the time of reception as a key (steps S402 and S403 in FIG. 6).
[0056]
Since the party key exists in the party key storage unit 52 of the terminal 3, the address discovery response unit 54 of the terminal 3 creates a discovery response packet and transmits the terminal 2 of the sender that is the transmission source IP address of the discovery request packet. The created discovery response packet is returned (steps S404 and S405). In this case, the discovery response packet created by the address discovery response unit 54 includes the presence address of the terminal 3 itself (in this case, the IP address of the terminal 3 itself) and the party key received in the discovery request packet.
[0057]
On the other hand, the address discovery response unit 54 of the terminal 4 of the non-conference participant C behaves (operates) as shown in FIG.
[0058]
The address discovery response unit 54 of the terminal 4 that has received the discovery request packet extracts the source IP address and the party key from the discovery request packet (step S401).
[0059]
The address discovery response unit 54 of the terminal 4 searches for the party key in the party key storage unit 52 using the party key acquired at the time of reception as a key (steps S402 and S403).
[0060]
Since the address discovery response unit 54 of the terminal 4 has no party key in the party key storage unit 52, the address discovery response unit 54 of the terminal 4 ignores the discovery request and ends the process.
[0061]
On the other hand, when receiving the discovery response packet from the terminal 3, the address discovery request unit 53 of the terminal 2 extracts the presence address of the terminal 3. This means that the presence address has been acquired.
[0062]
Thereafter, the presence subscription unit 55 of the terminal 2 acquires a discovery response packet from the address discovery request unit 53 and refers to the presence address. That is, the presence subscription unit 55 of the terminal 2 subscribes the presence of the conference participant B of the owner of the terminal 3 using the presence address of the terminal 3 in the discovery response packet.
[0063]
The presence subscription unit 55 of the terminal 3 receives the presence subscription request, reads out the presence information of the conference participant B stored in a storage unit (not shown) to the terminal 2 using the presence distribution unit 56, and distributes it.
[0064]
In the above description, the conference organizer does not attend the conference. However, if the conference organizer himself / herself wants to be a conference participant, it is sufficient to add his / her e-mail address to the transmission destination.
[0065]
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0066]
The second embodiment of the present invention has the same network system configuration as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and the configuration in the terminals 1, 2, 3, and 4 is the first embodiment. Is different. Referring to FIG. 9, terminals 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the second embodiment are mail software 51, party key storage unit 52, address discovery request unit 53, address discovery response unit 54, telephone It consists of a book 57. That is, as compared with the configuration in the terminal of the first embodiment (see FIG. 2), the presence subscription unit 55 and the presence distribution unit 56 are deleted from FIG. 1 shown in the first embodiment, and the phone book The difference is that 57 is added. In the second embodiment, the presence address in the first embodiment is changed to a SIP address or an instant message address. The SIP address is an address (corresponding to a telephone number) when making a VoIP call. An instant message address is an address used to uniquely identify a partner terminal when sending an instant message to a certain terminal.
[0067]
Therefore, the discovery response packet includes the SIP address (or instant message address) of the terminal itself that makes the response, the party key received in the discovery request packet, and the user name.
[0068]
In the telephone directory 57, an area is allocated in a storage unit (not shown) such as a non-volatile memory, and an address (SIP URL or instant message address) is registered for each user.
[0069]
Next, the operation of the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference mainly to FIG.
[0070]
The presence address described in the operation of the first embodiment is replaced with a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) URL (Uniform Resource Locator) or an instant message address, and the operation after the address discovery request unit 53 receives a discovery response packet is described below. Change as follows.
[0071]
That is, the address discovery request unit 53 of the terminal 2 of the conference participant A receives the discovery response packet transmitted (returned) by the terminal 3 of the conference participant B in step S405 of FIG. The address discovery request unit 53 of the terminal 2 extracts the SIP URL (or instant message address) and the user name from the discovery response packet, and stores the extracted address (SIP URL or instant message address) and the user name in the phone book 57. sign up.
[0072]
The other operations are the same as those in the first embodiment simply by replacing the addresses, and the description thereof will be omitted.
[0073]
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0074]
The third embodiment of the present invention has the same network system configuration as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and the configuration in the terminals 1, 2, 3, and 4 is the first embodiment. Is different. Referring to FIG. 10, terminals 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the third embodiment include mail software 51, address discovery request unit 53, address discovery response unit 54, presence subscription unit 55, and presence distribution. Part 56. That is, it differs from the configuration in the terminal according to the first embodiment (see FIG. 2) in that the party key storage unit 52 is deleted from FIG. 1 shown in the first embodiment.
[0075]
That is, unlike the first embodiment 1, the third embodiment does not use a party key. In order to determine that the discovery sender is a conference participant, “Message-Id” of the mail stored in the terminal is used. By using this method, it is possible to distribute the presence address among the conference participants even when the mailer of the conference organizer's terminal does not support this method.
[0076]
Next, the operation of the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference mainly to FIG.
[0077]
In the third embodiment, an algorithm described in the operation flowchart at the time of mail transmission in FIG. 3 and the operation flowchart at the time of reception of mail in FIG. The mail transmission / reception performed at 51 is changed. That is, in FIG. 3, the operations in steps S101 to S104 are deleted, and in FIG. 4, the operations in steps S201 to S204 are deleted.
[0078]
Further, in the third embodiment, the algorithm described in the flowchart of the operation at the time of the presence address acquisition request of FIG. 5 of the first embodiment is changed as follows according to the flowchart of FIG.
[0079]
The mail software unit 51 of the terminal 2 takes out (extracts) the email ID of the conference opening notification email currently selected by the operation unit, and searches whether the email ID exists in the received mailbox (FIG. 11). Steps S501 and S502).
[0080]
If the e-mail ID exists, the mail software unit 51 of the terminal 2 passes the e-mail ID extracted from the received mailbox to the address discovery request unit 53 (step S503).
[0081]
Upon receiving the email ID, the address discovery request unit 53 of the terminal 2 generates a discovery request packet (step S504). In this case, the discovery request packet includes an IP address of the discovery request transmission source (IP address of the own terminal), an electronic mail ID, and the like.
[0082]
Furthermore, the address discovery request unit 53 broadcasts / multicasts the generated discovery request packet to the network 900 (step S505).
[0083]
Further, the algorithm described in the flowchart at the time of receiving the discovery request packet in FIG. 6 of the first embodiment is changed as follows according to the flowchart in FIG.
[0084]
The address discovery response unit 54 of the terminal 3 of the conference participant B behaves (operates) as shown in FIG.
[0085]
When receiving the discovery request packet, the address discovery response unit 54 of the terminal 3 extracts the transmission source IP address and the electronic mail ID from the discovery request packet (step S601).
[0086]
The address discovery response unit 54 of the terminal 3 searches whether the same email ID as the retrieved email ID exists in the received mailbox (steps S602 and S603).
[0087]
Since the same e-mail ID exists in the reception mailbox of the terminal 3, the address discovery response unit 54 of the terminal 3 creates a discovery response packet and sends it to the terminal 2 of the sender that is the transmission source IP address of the discovery request packet. In response to this, the created discovery response packet is returned (steps S604 and S605). The discovery response packet in this case includes the presence address of the terminal 3 itself (in this case, the IP address of the terminal 3 itself), the electronic mail ID received in the discovery request packet, and the like.
[0088]
The address discovery response unit 54 of the terminal 4 of the non-conference participant C behaves (operates) as shown in FIG.
[0089]
When receiving the discovery request packet, the address discovery response unit 54 of the terminal 4 extracts the transmission source IP address and the email ID from the discovery request packet (step S601).
[0090]
The address discovery response unit 54 of the terminal 4 searches the received mailbox for the same e-mail ID as the e-mail ID of the discovery request packet (steps S602 and S603).
[0091]
Since the same e-mail ID does not exist in the reception mailbox of the terminal 4, the address discovery response unit 54 of the terminal 4 ignores the discovery request and ends the process.
[0092]
Since other operations are the same as those in the first embodiment, description thereof will be omitted.
[0093]
Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0094]
The fourth embodiment of the present invention has the same network system configuration as that of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1, and the configuration in the terminals 1, 2, 3, and 4 is the first embodiment. Is different. Referring to FIG. 13, terminals 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the fourth embodiment are browser 58, party key storage unit 59, address discovery request unit 53, address discovery response unit 54, and presence subscription. Section 55 and presence distribution section 56. That is, when compared with the configuration in the terminal of the first embodiment (see FIG. 2), the mail software 51 is deleted from FIG. 1 shown in the first embodiment, and the browser 58 is used instead of the mail software 51. The difference is in the added point, and the difference is that the party key storage unit 52 is changed to the party key storage unit 59.
[0095]
The browser 58 in FIG. 13 is software for referring to and displaying a home page, and indicates Internet Explorer, Netscape, or the like. Further, the browser 58 has a means for acquiring a party key in addition to the browser function.
[0096]
The party key storage unit 59 in FIG. 13 is allocated in a storage unit (not shown) (for example, a memory, a magnetic disk device, etc.), and as shown in FIG. 15, a homepage address (URL), a party key, Is stored on the table as one element. In this case, the home page address becomes the key for the party key search.
[0097]
The homepage information is registered in a storage unit (for example, a magnetic disk) managed by a server (not shown) connected to the network 900 of FIG.
[0098]
Next, the operation of the fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
[0099]
As a premise, it is assumed that the conference participants A and B know the URL of the schedule homepage that is always used as a daily time schedule, and do not know the presence address of each conference participant's terminal.
[0100]
First, when the conference organizer makes a conference notification, a homepage including a party key in the schedule homepage address is created on the terminal 1 and registered in a server (not shown) via the network 900. For example, the party key is described as a comment.
[0101]
When the browser 58 of each of the terminals 2 and 3 of the conference participants A and B refers to the schedule homepage, it acquires the homepage in which the party key is included in the comment. The browser 58 extracts the party key from the comment on the schedule homepage, and stores the homepage address and the party key in the party key storage unit 59 (see FIG. 15).
[0102]
When the conference participant A wants to know the presence addresses of all the conference participants, the conference participant's presence address is instructed from the user interface of the browser 58 of the terminal 2 while referring to the schedule homepage. For example, the pop-up menu displayed on the screen by the browser 58 when referring to the home page includes an item “subscriber presence presence subscription”, and an operation for selecting the item.
[0103]
The browser unit 58 of the terminal 2 instructed to acquire the presence address from the conference participant A behaves (operates) as shown in FIG.
[0104]
The browser unit 58 of the terminal 2 searches the party key storage unit 59 to determine whether the party key extracted from the home page exists in an area using the address of the corresponding home page as a key (steps S701 and S702 in FIG. 14).
[0105]
If the party key exists in the party key storage unit 59, the browser unit 58 of the terminal 2 extracts the party key from the party key storage unit 59 and passes the extracted party key to the address discovery request unit 53 (step S703). ).
[0106]
The address discovery request unit 53 that has received the party key generates a discovery request packet (step S704). In this case, the discovery request packet includes an IP address of a discovery request transmission source, a party key, and the like.
[0107]
Furthermore, the address discovery request unit 53 broadcasts / multicasts the generated discovery request packet to the network 900 (step S705).
[0108]
The following processing is the same as the discovery processing (processing after step S401 in FIG. 6) of the first embodiment in which discovery is performed using the mail software unit 51, and is therefore omitted.
[0109]
According to the description of the first or second embodiment described above, the present invention provides a method in which the conference organizer's terminal incorporates a party key indicating the conference participant in the e-mail and notifies the conference attendee's terminal. When a participant's terminal wants to know the URI of another conference participant's terminal, a discovery request packet (URI request packet) including a party key is transmitted by broadcast / multicast, so that the receiving terminal can receive the same party. If the user has a key, the URI of the own terminal is included and returned, so that the URIs of the terminals of all the conference participants can be automatically extracted when necessary without using a home page.
[0110]
In addition, according to the description of the third embodiment, the present invention can be configured such that the conference organizer's terminal notifies the conference attendee's terminal by e-mail so that the conference attendee's terminal can When an e-mail ID of an e-mail is stored and a conference participant's terminal wants to know the URI of another conference participant's terminal, a discovery request packet (URI request packet) including this e-mail ID is broadcast / multicast. By sending, if the receiving terminal has the same e-mail ID, it will reply with the URI of its own terminal. The URI can be extracted automatically.
[0111]
In addition, according to the description of the fourth embodiment, the present invention registers a party key on a homepage frequently used by the conference creator's terminal, and the party participant's terminal browses the homepage to obtain the party key. When a conference participant's terminal wants to know the URI of another conference participant's terminal, the discovery request packet (URI request packet) including the party key is transmitted by broadcast / multicast. Therefore, if the receiving terminal has the same party key, it will reply with the URI of its own terminal, so an e-mail will be used when it is necessary to obtain the URI of the conference participant accompanying browsing the homepage Can be facilitated without.
[0112]
Also, according to the first or third embodiment, the presence address is used to subscribe to the presence address information immediately after obtaining the presence address of the conference participant. The conference participant's terminal can obtain the presence information of the conference participant when necessary without manually inputting the presence address.
[0113]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, since only terminals having the same party key accept presence address requests, presence addresses can be collected only for conference participants. effective.
[0114]
Further, according to the present invention, since the terminal that has received the “conference opening notice” mail performs the presence subscription processing using the collected presence address, it is not necessary to manually input the presence address of the conference participant, and when necessary There is an effect that presence information of conference participants can be obtained. That is, there is an effect that the work when the user inputs the presence address can be reduced.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a network system according to first to fourth embodiments of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram in the terminal of FIG. 1 in the first embodiment.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation at the time of mail transmission of the mail software section of the terminal of FIG. 2;
4 is a flowchart showing an operation at the time of mail reception of the mail software section of the terminal of FIG. 2;
FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the terminal of FIG. 2 when a presence address is requested.
6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the terminal of FIG. 2 when a discovery request packet is received.
7 is a configuration schematic diagram showing an outline of the configuration in the party key storage unit of FIG. 2; FIG.
FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing an example when a party key is added to the header part of an outgoing mail.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram in the terminal of FIG. 1 in the second embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 10 is a block diagram in the terminal of FIG. 1 in the third embodiment of the present invention.
11 is a flowchart showing the operation of the terminal of FIG. 10 when a presence address acquisition request is made.
12 is a flowchart showing the operation of the terminal of FIG. 10 when a discovery request packet is received.
FIG. 13 is a block diagram in the terminal of FIG. 1 in the fourth embodiment of the present invention.
14 is a flowchart showing the operation of the terminal of FIG. 13 when a presence address acquisition request is made.
15 is a configuration schematic diagram showing an outline of the configuration in the party key storage unit of FIG. 13;
[Explanation of symbols]
1, 2, 3, 4 terminals
51 Mail software
52,59 Party key storage
53 Address discovery request section
54 Address discovery response part
55 Presence Subscription Department
56 Presence Distribution Department
57 phone book
58 Browser part
900 network

Claims (24)

A terminal URI discovery system for obtaining a terminal URI by communicating via a network,
Including a conference organizer terminal and a plurality of conference participant terminals,
Said conference organizer terminal, an e-mail with embedded party key that shows a group of conference participants includes a transmitting means to be transmitted to the conference participants end the end,
The conference participant terminal, when receiving the e-mail, storage means for extracting and storing the party key from the e-mail;
An instruction means for receiving a URI acquisition instruction for identifying a conference participant's terminal from the operation unit of the terminal itself, and a URI request packet in which the party key stored in the storage means is embedded when the acquisition instruction is received Request means for broadcasting to all terminals connected to the network or multicasting to terminals of a predetermined group connected to the network ; and
Search means for searching whether the party key extracted from the URI request packet is the same as the party key stored in the storage means when the URI request packet is received;
If the same party key exists as a result of searching by the search means, a reply means for creating a response packet including the URI of the own terminal and returning it to the request source;
A terminal URI discovery system, comprising: extraction means for extracting information on a transmission source including a URI of a transmission source from the response packet when the response packet returned by the response means is received. The terminal URI discovery system according to claim 1, wherein the conference organizer terminal includes a generating unit that generates the party key from an electronic mail in which identification information indicating that the conference is held is embedded when an electronic mail is transmitted. A terminal URI discovery system for obtaining a terminal URI by communicating via a network,
Including the conference terminal and the conference participant terminal,
Said conference organizer terminal, the e-mail embedded identification information indicating a meeting held includes a transmitting means to be transmitted to the conference participants end the end,
The conference participant terminal includes a storage unit that stores the email when the email is received , an instruction unit that receives a URI acquisition instruction for identifying the conference participant's terminal from the operation unit of the terminal ,
Means for requesting acquisition of a URI request packet in which the e-mail ID of the e-mail is embedded when receiving the acquisition instruction, and broadcasting to all terminals connected to the network or connecting to the network Request means for multicast transmission to a predetermined group of terminals , and
Search means for searching for whether the email ID extracted from the URI request packet is the same as the email ID stored in the storage means when the URI request packet is received;
If the same electronic mail ID exists as a result of searching by the search means, a reply means for creating a response packet including a URI for identifying the terminal itself and returning the response packet to the request source;
A terminal URI discovery system, comprising: extraction means for extracting information on a transmission source including a URI of a transmission source from the response packet when the response packet returned by the response means is received. 4. The terminal URI discovery according to claim 1 or 3, wherein the conference participant terminal comprises subscription means for subscribing presence information from a terminal corresponding to the extracted URI based on the URI extracted by the extracting means. system. The reply means includes means for creating a response packet including a user name;
The extraction means has means for extracting information of the transmission source including the user name, and the terminal holds in advance the user name extracted by the extraction means and the URI of the transmission source in its own terminal. The terminal URI discovery system according to claim 1, further comprising registration means for registering in a telephone directory. A terminal URI discovery system for obtaining a terminal URI by communicating via a network,
Including a conference organizer terminal, a conference participant terminal, and a server,
The conference held terminal, a home page with an embedded-party key that shows a group of conference participants has a registration means for registering to the server,
The conference participants end the end of a storage means for extracting and storing the party key to the home page from the acquired home page acquired from the server,
An instruction means for receiving a URI acquisition instruction for identifying a conference participant's terminal from the operation unit of the terminal itself, and a URI request packet in which the party key stored in the storage means is embedded when the acquisition instruction is received Request means for broadcasting to all terminals connected to the network or multicasting to terminals of a predetermined group connected to the network ; and
Search means for searching whether the party key extracted from the URI request packet is the same as the party key stored in the storage means when the URI request packet is received;
If the same party key exists as a result of searching by the search means, a reply means for creating a response packet including the URI of the own terminal and returning it to the request source;
A terminal URI discovery system, comprising: extraction means for extracting information on a transmission source including a URI of a transmission source from the response packet when the response packet returned by the response means is received.   The terminal URI discovery system according to claim 1, 3, 4, 5, or 6, wherein the URI is a presence address.   6. The terminal URI discovery system according to claim 1, wherein the URI is a SIP address or an instant message address. A terminal URI discovery method for acquiring a terminal URI by transmitting and receiving information between terminals via a network,
The terminal includes a step to send an e-mail with embedded party key that shows a group of conference participants to the terminal of the conference participants,
Extracting the party key from the e-mail when the e-mail is received and storing it in a storage unit;
Wherein by creating the steps of receiving an instruction to acquire URI that identifies the terminal of the conference participants from the operation unit of its own terminal, a URI request packet with an embedded party key stored in the storage unit when receiving the acquisition instruction Broadcasting to all terminals connected to the network or transmitting to the terminals of a predetermined group connected to the network by multicast; and
Searching for whether the party key extracted from the URI request packet is the same as the party key stored in the storage unit when the URI request packet is received;
If the same party key exists as a result of the search, a step of creating a response packet including the URI of the own terminal and returning it to the request source;
Receiving the response packet, extracting from the response packet information about the source including the URI of the source, and a method for terminal URI discovery. 10. The terminal URI discovery method according to claim 9, further comprising the step of generating the party key from an e-mail in which identification information indicating that a meeting is held is embedded at the time of e-mail transmission. A terminal URI discovery method for acquiring a terminal URI by transmitting and receiving information between terminals via a network,
The terminal, and transmitting the identification information indicating a meeting held embedded e-mail to the terminal of the conference participants,
Storing the email in a receiving mailbox when the email is received;
A step of receiving an instruction to acquire URI that identifies the terminal of the conference participants from the operation unit of its own terminal, the create a URI request packet embedded with electronic mail ID of the electronic mail when receiving the acquisition instruction network Broadcasting to all terminals connected to the network or multicasting to terminals of a predetermined group connected to the network ; and
Searching for whether the email ID extracted from the URI request packet when the URI request packet is received is the same as the email ID of the email stored in the received mailbox;
If the same electronic mail ID exists as a result of the search, a step of creating a response packet including a URI for identifying the own terminal and returning the response packet to the request source;
Receiving the response packet, extracting from the response packet information about the source including the URI of the source, and a method for terminal URI discovery.   12. The terminal URI discovery method according to claim 9, further comprising: subscribing presence information from a terminal corresponding to the extracted URI based on the URI extracted in the extracting step. The terminal includes creating a user name included in the response packet in the replying step;
Extracting the sender information including the user name in the extracting step;
The terminal URI discovery method according to claim 9, further comprising: registering the extracted user name and transmission source URI in a telephone book previously held in the terminal itself. A terminal URI discovery method for acquiring a terminal URI by transmitting and receiving information between terminals via a network,
The terminal includes a step of registering a home page with an embedded-party key that shows a group of conference participants to the servers,
Storing a pre-Symbol homepage acquired from the acquired home from the server to the extracted storing unit the party key,
Wherein by creating the steps of receiving an instruction to acquire URI that identifies the terminal of the conference participants from the operation unit of its own terminal, a URI request packet with an embedded party key stored in the storage unit when receiving the acquisition instruction Broadcasting to all terminals connected to the network or transmitting to the terminals of a predetermined group connected to the network by multicast; and
Searching for whether the party key extracted from the URI request packet is the same as the party key stored in the storage unit when the URI request packet is received;
If the same party key exists as a result of the search, a step of creating a response packet including the URI of the own terminal and returning it to the request source;
Receiving the response packet, extracting from the response packet information about the source including the URI of the source, and a method for terminal URI discovery.   The terminal URI discovery method according to claim 9, 11, 12, 13, or 14, wherein the URI is a presence address.   The terminal URI discovery method according to claim 9 or 13, wherein the URI is a SIP address or an instant message address. A terminal that transmits and receives information to obtain a terminal URI;
A transmission means for sending an email embedded with a party key indicating a group of conference participants to the conference participant's terminal;
Extract and store the party key from the email when the email is received Storage means;
An instruction unit for receiving a URI acquisition instruction for identifying a conference participant's terminal from the operation unit of the terminal itself, and a URI request packet in which the party key stored in the storage unit is embedded when the acquisition instruction is received Request means for broadcasting to all terminals connected to the network or multicasting to terminals of a predetermined group connected to the network; and
Search means for searching whether the party key extracted from the URI request packet is the same as the party key stored in the storage means when the URI request packet is received;
If the same party key exists as a result of searching by the search means, a reply means for creating a response packet including the URI of the own terminal and returning it to the request source;
A terminal comprising: an extraction unit that extracts information on a transmission source including a URI of a transmission source from the response packet when a response packet returned by the response unit is received. 18. The terminal according to claim 17, further comprising generating means for generating the party key from an e-mail in which identification information indicating that a meeting is held when transmitting the e-mail. A terminal that transmits and receives information to obtain a terminal URI;
A transmission means for transmitting an e-mail to a conference participant's terminal with identification information indicating that the conference is held;
Storage means for storing the e-mail when the e-mail is received;
An instruction means for receiving a URI acquisition instruction for identifying a conference participant's terminal from the operation unit of the terminal;
When the acquisition instruction is received, a URI request packet in which the e-mail ID of the e-mail is embedded is created and broadcast to all terminals connected to the network or connected to the network and predetermined. Request means for multicast transmission to the group's terminals,
Search means for searching for whether the email ID extracted from the URI request packet is the same as the email ID stored in the storage means when the URI request packet is received;
If the same electronic mail ID exists as a result of searching by the search means, a reply means for creating a response packet including a URI for identifying the terminal itself and returning the response packet to the request source
A terminal comprising: an extraction unit that extracts information on a transmission source including a URI of a transmission source from the response packet when a response packet returned by the response unit is received. 20. The terminal according to claim 17 or 19, further comprising subscription means for subscribing presence information from a terminal corresponding to the extracted URI based on the URI extracted by the extraction means. The reply means includes means for creating a response packet including a user name, the extraction means includes means for extracting information on the transmission source including the user name, and the terminal is the extraction means. 18. The terminal according to claim 17, further comprising registration means for registering the extracted user name and the URI of the transmission source in a telephone book previously held in the terminal. A terminal that transmits and receives information to obtain a terminal URI;
A registration means for registering a homepage in which a party key indicating a group of conference participants is embedded in the server when the conference organizer is a terminal;
Storage means for acquiring the home page from the server and extracting and storing the party key from the acquired home page;
An instruction unit for receiving a URI acquisition instruction for identifying a conference participant's terminal from the operation unit of the terminal itself, and a URI request packet in which the party key stored in the storage unit is embedded when the acquisition instruction is received Request means for broadcasting to all terminals connected to the network or multicasting to terminals of a predetermined group connected to the network; and
The party extracted from the URI request packet when the URI request packet is received Search means for searching for whether the same key as the party key stored in the storage means exists;
If the same party key exists as a result of searching by the search means, a reply means for creating a response packet including the URI of the own terminal and returning it to the request source;
A terminal comprising: an extraction unit that extracts information on a transmission source including a URI of a transmission source from the response packet when a response packet returned by the response unit is received. 23. The terminal according to claim 17, 19, 20, 21, or 22, wherein the URI is a presence address. The terminal according to claim 17 or 21, wherein the URI is a SIP address or an instant message address.

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