JP5034110B2 - Electronic conference system, communication terminal, data communication method and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an electronic conference system in which a plurality of communication terminals are connected to each other via a network.

  In the electronic conference system, one of a plurality of communication terminals connected to each other via a network is a presenter terminal, and the other is a participant terminal. Packet communication based on TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) / IP (Internet Protocol) is performed between the presenter terminal and each participant terminal.

  In TCP / IP packet communication, both an IP address and a MAC (Media Access Control) address are required. Therefore, each communication terminal holds an ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) table indicating the correspondence between the IP address and the MAC address. Here, ARP is an address resolution protocol defined in RFC826, and is used to obtain a MAC address from an IP address in an Ethernet environment.

  When data communication is performed between the presenter terminal and each participant terminal, first, packet communication for address resolution by ARP is performed. Specifically, the presenter terminal broadcasts an ARP request packet including the IP address and MAC address of its own terminal and the IP address of the participant terminal serving as a communication partner in order to create an ARP table. When each participant terminal receives an ARP request packet including the IP address of its own terminal from the presenter terminal, it returns an ARP response packet including the IP address and MAC address of its own terminal to the presenter terminal. The presenter terminal creates an ARP table based on the IP address and the MAC address included in the ARP response packet received from each participant terminal.

Patent Document 1 describes packet communication for address resolution by ARP between communication terminals.
JP 2003-348084 A

  However, in the above-described electronic conference system, when a presenter is changed, packet communication (ARP request, ARP request) for address resolution by ARP between a communication terminal used by a new presenter and each participant terminal. ARP response) is required to register each participant's address information (IP address and MAC address) in the ARP table of the communication terminal of the new presenter. Until the address resolution processing by ARP (ARP table creation processing) is completed, data communication cannot be performed between the participant terminal and the new presenter terminal. As described above, there is a problem that a waiting time associated with address resolution processing occurs when the presenter is switched.

  In addition, in the address resolution processing by ARP with broadcast, if each participant terminal sends a response packet to the presenter terminal at once, network traffic increases, and in some cases, between communication terminals Communication may be disconnected. Normally, in the address resolution process in the case of the first presenter, the communication terminals of each participant are individually set for communication, and response packets are transmitted in the order in which the settings are completed. For this reason, transmission of response packets from each participant terminal to the presenter terminal does not concentrate. On the other hand, when the presenter is changed, the communication terminal of each participant is in a state in which connection settings are made, and therefore, a response packet may be transmitted from each participant terminal to the presenter terminal at once. For this reason, network traffic increases, communication is cut off, and switching of presenters may not be possible.

  An object of the present invention is to provide an electronic conference system, a communication terminal, an address information management method, and a program that can solve the above-described problems.

In order to achieve the above object, an electronic conference system according to the present invention includes a plurality of communication terminals connected to each other through a network, one of the communication terminals being a presenter terminal, and the other communication terminals being respectively An electronic conference system used as a participant terminal ,
Each of the plurality of communication terminals is
A table in which address information of the own terminal and the communication destination on the network is stored;
A control unit for managing the table;
The control unit of the communication terminal, which is the presenter terminal ,
The address information of each of the participant terminals is stored in the table of the own terminal, and conference data is transmitted to each of the participant terminals based on the address information,
When the presenter switching request is received from any one of the communication terminals that are the participant terminals and the presenter switching request is permitted, all the address information stored in the table of the own terminal is Sent to the communication terminal that requested the presenter switch,
The control unit of the communication terminal that has made the presenter switching request transmits a conference data to each communication terminal based on the address information received from the presenter terminal, as a new presenter terminal. It is characterized by that.

Data communication method of the present invention comprises a plurality of communication terminals phase through a network mutually connected, one of the communication terminals is set to the presenter terminal, and another communication terminal terminal for each participant A data communication method performed in a system that includes:
The control unit of the communication terminal set as the presenter terminal stores the address information of each of the participant terminals in the table of the own terminal, and conference data for each of the participant terminals based on the address information. If the presenter switching request is received from any one of the communication terminals as the participant terminals and the presenter switching request is permitted, all addresses stored in the table of the own terminal Send information to the communication terminal that made the presenter switching request,
The control unit of the communication terminal that has made the presenter switching request transmits a conference data to each communication terminal based on the address information received from the presenter terminal, as a new presenter terminal. It is characterized by that.

The program of the present invention stores the address information of each participant's terminal in a table if it is the presenter's terminal at the time of creating the conference, and stores the address information on each participant's terminal based on the address information. When the conference data is transmitted, the presenter switching request is received from any one of the participant terminals, and the presenter switching request is permitted, all address information stored in the table is stored in the presenter. Processing to send to the participant's terminal that has requested switching;
When the conference is created , if it is a participant's terminal and the presenter switching request is made, it becomes a new presenter's terminal and is based on address information received from the presenter's terminal. And causing the computer to execute a process of transmitting the conference data to each communication terminal .

  According to the present invention, when the presenter is changed, the presenter's communication terminal before the change transmits all the address information stored in the table of the own terminal to the presenter's communication terminal after the change. In this case, there is no need to perform address resolution processing (ARP request, ARP response) by ARP with broadcast between the communication terminal of the presenter after the change and the communication terminal of each participant. The time required for person switching can be shortened.

  In addition, since it is not necessary to perform address resolution processing (ARP request, ARP response) by ARP accompanying broadcast, it is possible to suppress an increase in network traffic when the presenter is changed. Can prevent failure.

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

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronic conference system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the electronic conference system includes a plurality of communication terminals 10 ₁ to 10 _n connected to each other via a network 20 so as to be able to communicate with each other. The network 20 is a network represented by a LAN (Local Area Network).

The communication terminals 10 ₁ to 10 _n are computer systems having a communication function, and all have the same configuration. Computer systems include storage devices that store programs, input devices such as keyboards and mice, display devices such as CRTs and LCDs, communication devices such as modems that communicate with the outside, output devices such as printers, and storage devices. It is configured by a control device that operates according to a stored program and receives input from an input device and controls operations of a communication device, an output device, and a display device.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration of the communication terminal 10 used as the communication terminals 10 ₁ to 10 _n . Referring to FIG. 2, the communication terminal 10 is, for example, a personal computer, and its main part includes an ARP table 101, a TCP / IP protocol stack 102, a control unit 103, a storage unit 104, and an input unit 105.

  The TCP / IP protocol stack 102 corresponds to various standard protocols such as TCP / IP used on the Internet, and is composed of software groups stacked in a hierarchical manner. The software group includes software corresponding to each of a plurality of layers such as a device driver that controls a network card, a data link layer that controls an Ethernet frame, a network layer such as IP, and a transport layer such as TCP and UDP.

  The ARP table 101 is a table for storing the IP address and MAC address of its own terminal and the IP address and MAC address of the communication partner.

  The control unit 103 operates in accordance with a program stored in the storage device 104, receives an input from the input unit 105, and controls the operation of the entire communication terminal 100. Further, the control unit 103 executes processing necessary for the electronic conference. Here, processing necessary for the electronic conference includes, for example, address resolution processing by ARP, data communication processing with other communication terminals, authentication processing using a password or the like at the time of switching the presenter, and input to the input unit 105 This includes processing for acquiring the ARP table contents of other communication terminals (former presenter terminals) specified by the input.

  Next, the operation of the electronic conference system of this embodiment will be specifically described.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a procedure of data communication processing performed in the electronic conference system according to the present embodiment. Referring to FIG. 3, the data communication process includes a meeting creation S100 and a presenter switching S300. The data communication process will be specifically described below.

(1) Creating a meeting S100:
FIG. 4 schematically shows a communication connection operation between communication terminals in creating a conference. Hereinafter, the operation will be described with reference to FIG. 2, FIG. 3 and FIG. In the following description, a terminal used by a presenter is referred to as a presenter terminal A, and communication terminals used by participants are referred to as participant terminals B1 to B3. The IP address and MAC address of the presenter terminal A are “192.168.0.10” and “11.11.11.11.11.10”, respectively. The IP address and MAC address of the participant terminal B1 are “192.168.0.1” and “11.11.11.11.11.01,” respectively. The IP address and MAC address of the participant terminal B2 are “192.168.0.2” and “11.11.11.11.11.02,” respectively. The IP address and MAC address of the participant terminal B3 are “192.168.0.3” and “11.11.11.11.11.03”, respectively.

  In executing the conference creation S100, first, in the presenter terminal A, the control unit 103 executes address resolution processing by ARP. In the address resolution processing by ARP, the control unit 103 broadcasts an ARP request packet including the address information (IP address and MAC address) of the terminal itself and the IP address of the communication partner (step S101). The IP address of the communication partner may be acquired from connection information supplied from the network 20 side, or may be given in advance.

  Participant terminals B1 to B3 that have received the ARP request packet addressed to the own terminal individually send the ARP response packet storing the address information (IP address and MAC address) of the own terminal to the presenter terminal A. To do. Here, ARP response packet transmission processing is performed in the order of participant terminal B1, participant terminal B2, and participant terminal B3 (steps S102, S104, and S106).

  In step S102, the participant terminal B1 transmits the IP address (192.168.0.1) and MAC address (11.11.11.11.11.01) of the own terminal to the presenter terminal A.

  In the presenter terminal A, the TCP / IP protocol stack 102 passes the ARP response packet received from the participant terminal B 1 to the control unit 103. The control unit 103 registers address information (IP address and MAC address) included in the ARP response packet in the ARP table 101. Then, the control unit 103 connects to the IP address (192.168.0.1) of the participant terminal B1 through the TCP / IP protocol stack 102 (step S103). Thereafter, the control unit 103 sequentially transmits the conference data read from the storage device or the external storage device to the participant terminal B1 through the TCP / IP protocol stack 102.

  In step S104, the participant terminal B2 transmits the IP address (192.168.0.2) and MAC address (11.11.11.11.11.02) of the own terminal to the presenter terminal A.

  In the presenter terminal A, the TCP / IP protocol stack 102 passes the ARP response packet received from the participant terminal B 2 to the control unit 103. The control unit 103 registers address information (IP address and MAC address) included in the ARP response packet in the ARP table 101. Then, the control unit 103 connects to (192.168.0.2) of the participant terminal B2 through the TCP / IP protocol stack 102 (step S105). Thereafter, the control unit 103 sequentially transmits the conference data read from the storage device or the external storage device to the participant terminal B1 through the TCP / IP protocol stack 102.

  In step S105, the participant terminal B3 transmits the IP address (192.168.0.3) and the MAC address (11.11.11.11.11.03) of the own terminal to the presenter terminal A.

  In the presenter terminal A, the TCP / IP protocol stack 102 passes the ARP response packet received from the participant terminal B 3 to the control unit 103. The control unit 103 registers address information (IP address and MAC address) included in the ARP response packet in the ARP table 101. Then, the control unit 103 connects to (192.168.0.3) of the participant terminal B3 through the TCP / IP protocol stack 102 (step S106). Thereafter, the control unit 103 sequentially transmits the conference data read from the storage device or the external storage device to the participant terminal B1 through the TCP / IP protocol stack 102.

  When the process of conference creation S100 is performed as described above, communication connection is made between the presenter terminal A and each of the participant terminals B1 to B3, and data transmission and reception for the conference between the terminals is performed. Is possible.

(2) Presenter switching S300:
After the process of creating the meeting S100 is performed, the presenter changes to another presenter (step S201 in FIG. 3). Here, the user of the participant terminal B1 becomes a new presenter, and the previous presenter (old presenter) becomes a participant. In the following description, for the sake of convenience, the participant terminal B1 is replaced with the new presenter terminal A1, and the presenter terminal A is replaced with the old presenter terminal A2.

  When the presenter is changed, the presenter switching S300 is executed. In the presenter switching S300, communication connection is performed between the new presenter terminal A1 and the terminal A2 for the presenter and the terminals B2 and B3 for the participants, which are the terminals on the participant side. FIG. 5 schematically shows the communication connection operation. The operation will be described below with reference to FIGS.

  In the new presenter terminal A1, when the new presenter performs an input operation for changing the presenter at the input unit 105, the control unit 103 causes the display device to display an information input screen for replacing the presenter. Information on the presenter change information input screen is stored in the storage unit 104 in advance. The presenter change information input screen is provided with a display field for connection destination information (IP address and MC address information of a connection destination communication terminal), a password input field, a decision button, and the like. The new presenter terminal A1 and the old presenter terminal A2 are already in a communicable state, and the address information of the old presenter terminal A2 is displayed in the display column of the connection destination information.

  When a new presenter confirms the display of connection destination information on the presenter change information input screen, inputs a password, and presses the enter button, the control unit 103 is a communication terminal that becomes a connection destination according to the connection destination information Is identified. Further, the control unit 103 transmits a presenter switching request including the input password to the identified communication terminal (old presenter terminal A2).

  In the old presenter terminal A2, the control unit 103 determines whether or not the password received from the new presenter terminal A1 matches a preset password. If the passwords match, the control unit 103 updates the IP addresses and MAC addresses of all participants and the IP address and MAC address of its own terminal registered in the ARP table 101 in response to the presenter switching request. It transmits to the presenter terminal A1 (step S301). If the passwords do not match, the control unit 103 transmits error information indicating the fact to the new presenter terminal A1.

  After the presenter switching request is permitted, in the new presenter terminal A1, the control unit 103 removes the IP address and MAC address of the own terminal from the IP address and MAC address received from the old presenter terminal A2. Are added to the ARP table 101 (step S302). As a result, “192.168.0.10 (11.11.11.11.11.10)” of the former presenter terminal A2 and “192.168.0.2 (11. 11.1.11.11.11.02) "and" 192.168.0.3 (11.11.11.11.11.03) "of the participant terminal B3 are ARP of the new presenter terminal A1. Registered in the table 101.

  Next, in the new presenter terminal A1, the control unit 103 connects to the IP address (192.168.0.10) of the old presenter terminal A2 (step S303). Thereafter, the control unit 103 sequentially transmits the conference data to the old presenter's terminal A2.

  Next, in the new presenter terminal A1, the control unit 103 connects to the IP address (192.168.0.2) of the participant terminal B2 (step S304). Thereafter, the control unit 103 sequentially transmits the conference data to the participant terminal B2.

  Next, in the new presenter terminal A1, the control unit 103 connects to the IP address (192.168.0.3) of the participant terminal B3 (step S305). Thereafter, the control unit 103 sequentially transmits the conference data to the participant terminal B3.

  As described above, when the presenter switching S300 is performed, the new presenter terminal A1 and the terminals of the former presenter terminal A2 and the participant terminals B2 and B3, which are the participants' terminals, are provided. Data for the conference is transmitted / received to / from.

  According to the electronic conference system of the present embodiment described above, each of a plurality of communication terminals constituting the system stores a table storing address information of the own terminal and a communication destination on the network, and manages the table. A control unit. Then, the control unit of at least one communication terminal of the plurality of communication terminals transmits a request signal for requesting address information by broadcast on the network and receives it from each of the other communication terminals as a response to the request signal. After the stored address information is stored in the table, all the address information stored in the table is transmitted to the requesting communication terminal in response to a request from one of the other communication terminals.

  According to the above configuration, when the presenter changes, the communication terminal of the presenter before the change transmits all the address information stored in the table of the own terminal to the communication terminal of the presenter after the change. In this case, there is no need to perform address resolution processing (ARP request, ARP response) by ARP with broadcast between the communication terminal of the presenter after the change and the communication terminal of each participant. The time required for person switching can be shortened.

  In addition, since it is not necessary to perform address resolution processing (ARP request, ARP response) by ARP accompanying broadcast, it is possible to suppress an increase in network traffic when the presenter is changed. Can prevent failure. This effect is particularly effective when the number of participants is large.

  The electronic conference system of the present embodiment described above is an example of the present invention, and the configuration and operation thereof can be changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the invention.

  For example, in the processing procedure shown in FIG. 3, one of the participants becomes a new presenter, but a new participant may become a new presenter. In this case, the communication terminal used by the new participant (another communication terminal) is used as the new presenter terminal, and the communication through the network 20 is performed between the new presenter terminal and the old presenter terminal. Perform connection settings to do this. After the connection setting, the process of step S301 is performed between the new presenter terminal and the old presenter terminal.

  A program related to processing executed by the control unit 103 may be stored in the storage unit 104 in advance, or may be given through a recording medium represented by a CD-ROM or DVD. When a recording medium storing a program is provided, an apparatus for reading the program from the recording medium is provided in the communication terminal.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the electronic conference system which is one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the communication terminal which comprises the electronic conference system shown in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows one procedure of the address management process performed with the electronic conference system shown in FIG. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the communication connection operation | movement between the communication terminals in preparation of a meeting. It is a schematic diagram for demonstrating the communication connection operation | movement at the time of a presenter change.

Explanation of symbols

10 ₁ to 10 _n , 100 communication terminal 20 network 101 ARP table 102 TCP / IP protocol stack 103 control unit 104 storage unit 105 input unit

Claims (6)

An electronic conference system comprising a plurality of communication terminals connected to each other through a network, one of the communication terminals being a presenter terminal, and the other communication terminal being a participant terminal ,
Each of the plurality of communication terminals is
A table in which address information of the own terminal and the communication destination on the network is stored;
A control unit for managing the table;
The control unit of the communication terminal, which is the presenter terminal ,
The address information of each of the participant terminals is stored in the table of the own terminal, and conference data is transmitted to each of the participant terminals based on the address information,
When the presenter switching request is received from any one of the communication terminals that are the participant terminals and the presenter switching request is permitted, all the address information stored in the table of the own terminal is Sent to the communication terminal that requested the presenter switch,
The control unit of the communication terminal that has made the presenter switching request transmits a conference data to each communication terminal based on the address information received from the presenter terminal, as a new presenter terminal. , Electronic conference system. And further comprising another communication terminal connected to the network and having the table and the control unit,
The control unit of the presenter terminal communication terminals connected to the network, receiving a presenter switching request from the previous SL other communication terminals, where allowed by the presenter switching request is the own terminal of all the address information stored in the table, and sends it to said another communication terminal,
The control unit of the other communication terminal is a new presenter terminal, and transmits conference data to each communication terminal based on address information received from the presenter terminal. Electronic conference system described in 1.   The electronic conference system according to claim 1, wherein the address information includes an IP address and a MAC address. At the time of creating a conference, the control unit of the communication terminal that is the presenter terminal broadcasts a request signal for requesting address information to each of the communication terminals that are the participant terminals. 4. The address information received from each of the communication terminals that are transmitted and received as the participant terminal as a response to the request signal is stored in the table of the own terminal. Electronic conference system . Comprising a plurality of communication terminals connected each other phases through the network, data one of the communication terminals is set to the presenter terminal, performed by a system other communication terminals are respectively player terminals A communication method,
The control unit of the communication terminal set as the presenter terminal stores the address information of each of the participant terminals in the table of the own terminal, and conference data for each of the participant terminals based on the address information. If the presenter switching request is received from any one of the communication terminals as the participant terminals and the presenter switching request is permitted, all addresses stored in the table of the own terminal Send information to the communication terminal that made the presenter switching request,
The control unit of the communication terminal that has made the presenter switching request transmits a conference data to each communication terminal based on the address information received from the presenter terminal, as a new presenter terminal. , Data communication method. If the conference terminal itself is a presenter terminal, the address information of each participant terminal is stored in a table, and the conference data is transmitted to each of the participant terminals based on the address information, If the presenter switching request is received from any one of the participant terminals and the presenter switching request is permitted, all the address information stored in the table is included in the participant who has made the presenter switching request. Processing to send to the terminal for
When the conference is created , if it is a participant's terminal and the presenter switching request is made, it becomes a new presenter's terminal and is based on address information received from the presenter's terminal. A program for causing a computer to execute a process of transmitting conference data to each communication terminal .

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