JP5862398B2 - Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and information processing program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and an information processing program.

  In the above technical field, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that uses, for example, a microphone, a touch sensor, a graphical input, a keyboard, a mouse, and the like in order to enable bidirectional operation between the system and the user in a video conference. It is disclosed.

JP 2010-238239 A

  However, in the technique described in the above document, the configuration cannot be flexibly rearranged according to the communication load in performing communication via the network.

  The objective of this invention is providing the technique which solves the above-mentioned subject.

In order to achieve the above object, an apparatus according to the present invention provides:
A communication means for performing data communication with a portable terminal;
Determining means for determining whether or not a communication load between the mobile terminal and the communication means exceeds a predetermined reference value;
Proposed means for proposing addition of the number of portable terminals that perform data communication with the communication means to the user of the portable terminal via the portable terminal when the communication load exceeds the predetermined reference value; ,
When a new portable terminal is added to the data communication and communication with the communication means is established, the communication means is controlled to perform distributed communication using the portable terminal and the new portable terminal. Control means for
It is provided with.

In order to achieve the above object, the method according to the present invention comprises:
A communication step for performing data communication with a mobile terminal;
A determination step of determining whether or not a communication load between the mobile terminal and the communication means exceeds a predetermined reference value;
A proposal step of proposing addition of the number of portable terminals that perform data communication with the communication means to the user of the portable terminal via the portable terminal when the communication load exceeds the predetermined reference value; ,
When a new portable terminal is added to the data communication and communication with the communication means is established, the communication means is controlled to perform distributed communication using the portable terminal and the new portable terminal. A control step to
It is characterized by including.

In order to achieve the above object, a program according to the present invention provides:
A communication step for performing data communication with a mobile terminal;
A determination step of determining whether or not a communication load between the mobile terminal and the communication means exceeds a predetermined reference value;
A proposal step of proposing addition of the number of portable terminals that perform data communication with the communication means to the user of the portable terminal via the portable terminal when the communication load exceeds the predetermined reference value; ,
When a new portable terminal is added to the data communication and communication with the communication means is established, the communication means is controlled to perform distributed communication using the portable terminal and the new portable terminal. A control step to
Is executed by a computer.

In order to achieve the above object, a system according to the present invention provides:
A communication means for performing data communication with a portable terminal;
Determining means for determining whether or not a communication load between the mobile terminal and the communication means exceeds a predetermined reference value;
Proposed means for proposing addition of the number of portable terminals that perform data communication with the communication means to the user of the portable terminal via the portable terminal when the communication load exceeds the predetermined reference value; ,
When a new portable terminal is added to the data communication and communication with the communication means is established, the communication means is controlled to perform distributed communication using the portable terminal and the new portable terminal. Control means to
An information processing apparatus comprising:
The mobile terminal and the new mobile terminal;
It is characterized by including.

  According to the present invention, when performing communication via a network, the configuration can be flexibly changed according to the communication load.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus which concerns on 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the usage example of the information processing system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the cloud server which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram explaining the flow of the whole process of the information processing system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the table used with the information processing system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the table used with the information processing system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the cloud server which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the cloud server which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the flow of a process of the information processing system which concerns on 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the table used with the information processing system which concerns on 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the cloud server which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process of the cloud server which concerns on 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

  Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the components described in the following embodiments are merely examples, and are not intended to limit the technical scope of the present invention only to them.

[First Embodiment]
An information processing apparatus 101 as a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The information processing apparatus 101 is an apparatus that communicates with the user 140 using at least two portable terminals 120 and 130.

  As illustrated in FIG. 1, the information processing apparatus 101 includes a communication unit 111, a determination unit 112, a suggestion unit 113, and a control unit 114.

  The communication unit 111 performs data communication with the mobile terminal 120. In addition, the determination unit 112 determines whether or not the communication load with the mobile terminal 120 exceeds a predetermined reference value. Further, the proposing unit 113 proposes distributed communication to other mobile terminals to the user 140 of the mobile terminal 120 via the mobile terminal 120 when the communication load exceeds a predetermined reference value. When communication between the other mobile terminal 130 and the communication unit 111 is established, the control unit 114 controls the communication unit 111 so as to perform distributed communication using the mobile terminal 120 and the other mobile terminal 130.

  With the configuration as described above, the information processing apparatus can propose distributed communication to another mobile terminal according to the communication load with the mobile terminal and perform distributed communication using the other mobile terminal. . As a result, since the configuration scale can be changed according to the communication load, communication via the network can be performed more effectively and efficiently.

[Second Embodiment]
(Whole system configuration)
Next, an information processing system according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the overall mechanism of the information processing system 200 according to the present embodiment.

  The information processing system 200 includes a cloud server 201 as an information processing apparatus, smartphones 204 and 205, and displays 241 and 242 as external devices. Although not shown, these displays 241 and 242 are connected to the camera internally or externally. That is, a camera is also included as an external device. The information processing system 200 further includes a hub 240 and a microphone 243 connected to the smartphone 204, and constitutes a video conference system as a whole. Here, an example in which two displays are connected to the smartphone 204 is shown as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of the same type of external devices may be connected simultaneously.

  The cloud server 201 includes a registration unit 210 for registering various types of information, a communication load determination unit 220 for determining a communication load, and a suggestion unit 230 for proposing use of another mobile terminal. . In addition, the registration unit 210 includes a connection device table 211 for registering external devices connected to the mobile terminal.

  The smartphone 204 activates the video conference application in the cloud server 201 via the network by the operation of the user A. The video conference application of the cloud server 201 recognizes the displays 241 and 242 and the microphone 243 connected to the smartphone 204 and registers them in the connected device table 211. And the cloud server 201 acquires audio | voices, such as meeting participant A and B, via the smart phone 204, and sends it to the other party of a meeting. On the other hand, the cloud server 201 displays the conference material and the image of the other party on the displays 241 and 242 via the smartphone 204. In this way, the video conference is executed.

  The communication load determination unit 220 of the cloud server 201 monitors the communication load with the smartphone 204 and determines whether or not a predetermined reference value has been exceeded. When the communication load of the smartphone 204 exceeds a predetermined reference value, the suggestion unit 230 of the cloud server 201 displays a proposal message 280 regarding the use of another mobile terminal on the display 241 or the display 242. Here, if the communication load due to the display data displayed on the display 242 is large, the display 242 displays that it should be connected to another portable terminal. When the user switches the display 242 from the smartphone 204 to the smartphone 205 in accordance with this proposal, the cloud server 201 refers to the connection device table 211 to detect the connection change and updates the connection device table 211. Further, the cloud server 201 causes the display 242 to display the screen data originally transmitted for display on the display 242 via the smartphone 205.

  Here, the predetermined reference value is not necessarily a fixed value. For example, a value representing the communication capability of the smartphone 204 may be used. In particular, the communication capability of the smartphone 204 at the time when the communication load occurs may be compared with the communication load to determine whether or not the communication load is greater. The proposing unit 230 proposes the use of another mobile terminal when the communication load is large with respect to the communication capability. The communication load determination unit 220 may determine the communication load by a method of directly monitoring the communication amount between the smartphone 204 and the cloud server 201, but is not limited thereto. For example, the number of interruptions of communication between the smartphone 204 and the cloud server 201 is counted, and when the number exceeds a predetermined value, it may be determined that the communication load approximately exceeds a predetermined reference value. .

  The cloud server 201 holds identification information of an external device (in this case, the displays 241 and 242 in this case) connected to the mobile terminal (in this case, the smartphone 204) as a history. The cloud server 201 detects that the external device once disconnected (in this case, the display 242) is reconnected by relaying to another mobile terminal (in this case, the smartphone 205). In that case, the cloud server 201 transmits the display data that has been transmitted to the display 242 that has been disconnected once, via a new portable terminal (in this case, the smartphone 205). Further, the proposing unit 230 notifies the external device (display 242) that the problem has been solved, and displays it. If the problem of the communication load is not solved by the reconnection of the external device once, reconnection to another external device is proposed again. Thereby, the problem caused by the communication load can be solved without any special effort of the user.

(Smart phone internal configuration)
FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the internal configuration and peripheral configuration of the smartphone 204. The smartphone 204 includes a web browser 321 as an application, a display 322, a microphone 323, a camera 324, a communication interface (communication I / F) 325, and an external interface (I / F) 326. The smartphone 204 activates the Web browser 321 in accordance with a user operation, and accesses the cloud server 201 via the communication interface 325 and the Internet 350. The display 322 displays the access screen provided from the cloud server 201. The display 322 has a touch panel function, and a video conference application prepared in the cloud server 201 is activated by the operation. The cloud server 201 receives access from the smartphone 204, receives login information, identifies the user of the smartphone 204, activates the video conference application, and registers the user of the smartphone 204 as the participant. The smartphone 204 may prepare a “video conference” icon as a part of the internal application. In response to the click of the “video conference” icon, login to the cloud server 201, activation of the video conference application in the virtual PC in the cloud server 201, generation of the video conference space, and application for participation in the video conference may be performed. . Such automation can effectively reduce the user's operation burden. The external interface 326 of the smartphone 204 is, for example, a USB interface, and acquires device descriptors when connected to the displays 241 and 242 and the microphone 243 via the hub 240.

  Here, USB is exemplified as the external interface, but the present invention is not limited to this, and an external interface such as HDMI or wireless LAN may be used.

  If there is no device driver for those external devices in the smartphone 204, device information such as a device descriptor is transmitted to the cloud server 201. When receiving the device information, the virtual PC provided in the cloud server 201 communicates with the displays 241 and 242 and the microphone 243 using a virtual interface instead of the smartphone 204. In that case, the smartphone 204 operates as a simple communication relay station. The cloud server 201 transmits data for an external device using the USBoverIP protocol. Upon receiving such USB over IP data, the communication interface 325 of the smartphone 204 cancels (unencapsulates) IP encapsulation, generates pure USB data, and transmits the pure USB data to the external device.

  Since the smartphone 204 includes the display 322, the microphone 323, and the camera 324, these may be used for transmission / reception of video conference images and audio contents. For example, when a display is not connected as an external device, a screen may be displayed on the display 322 of the smartphone 204. Alternatively, the microphone 323 inside the smartphone 204 may be used when a microphone is not connected as an external device. Further, the camera 324 of the smartphone 204 may be used to photograph a conference participant or a conference material, and transmit the image to the other party. When the display 241 and the microphone 243 are externally connected, priority is given to the output to them, and the display 322 and the microphone 323 of the smartphone 204 may be activated when all of them are disconnected.

(Internal configuration of cloud server)
FIG. 4 shows the internal configuration of the cloud server 201. The cloud server 201 includes a registration unit 210, a video conference screen generation unit 402, a communication load determination unit 220, a proposal unit 230, a user instruction reception unit 405, a distributed processing control unit 406, and a communication control unit 407. In addition to the connected device table 211, the registration unit 210 registers a conference participant table 411, a user database 412, and a conference content database 413. The conference participant table 411 registers information for identifying participants participating in the conference. On the other hand, the user database 412 stores personal specific information registered as a user of the video conference system (or a user of the cloud server 201 itself). For example, specific information (device ID, IP address, MAC address, etc.) of a device (such as a personal computer or a smartphone) that may access the cloud server 201 is registered for each user. The conference content database 413 is a database that accumulates content (such as document data) used in a video conference.

  The video conference screen generation unit 402 collects content from the conference content database 413 and the like, and generates image data to be displayed on a display screen used for the video conference. The generated image data is sent to a mobile terminal such as the smartphone 204 via the communication control unit 407 and displayed on the displays 241 and 242 as external devices.

  The communication load determination unit 220 monitors the communication load during the video conference. This communication load is monitored for each mobile terminal for relay. The communication load may be obtained from the communication speed. Here, the communication load between the smartphone 204 and the cloud server 201 is started, and it is determined whether or not the size exceeds a predetermined reference value.

  When there are a plurality of external devices connected to the mobile terminal, the communication load determination unit 220 determines whether the total value exceeds a predetermined value. That is, in the case of FIG. 2, it is determined whether or not the total value of the image data and audio data output to the displays 241 and 242 using the smartphone 204 exceeds a predetermined value. Furthermore, the communication load determination unit 220 also detects a communication load for each external device.

  Then, the suggestion unit 230 includes other external devices (here, the displays 241 and 242 and the microphone 243) connected to the mobile terminal so that the communication load can be averaged between the mobile terminal and other mobile terminals. Select an external device to connect to your mobile device. For example, the proposing unit 230 selects an external device having the largest communication load from a plurality of external devices connected to the mobile terminal, and proposes to the user to reconnect to another mobile terminal.

  For example, when the ratio of the communication load between the displays 241 and 242 and the microphone 243 is 50:30:10, the communication load for each portable terminal can be obtained by switching the display 241 to the smartphone 205 as another portable terminal. Can be averaged.

  When the communication load determination unit 220 determines that the communication load in any of the mobile terminals exceeds a predetermined reference value, the proposing unit 230 proposes the use of another mobile terminal. This proposal may be performed using, for example, the display of the smartphone 204 as a mobile terminal, or may be displayed on the screen of an external device (display 242 in FIG. 2) to be connected.

  The user instruction receiving unit 405 receives a user instruction in a video conference. For example, an instruction may be received from the user to add the smartphone 205 as one of mobile terminals used for the video conference via the smartphone 204. For example, the smartphone 205 may be authenticated by distributing a password from the cloud server 201 to the smartphone 204 and inputting the password to the smartphone 205.

  For example, even when the smartphone 205 is not registered as a user terminal of a contract user of the cloud server 201, the smartphone 205 can be used as a video conference relay station using the authority of the user of the smartphone 204. In this way, even if the smartphone 205 is not registered in advance as a terminal that can be used for a video conference, the user can easily use the smartphone 205 for load distribution. In addition, although the technique which distributes the burden for every device with the smart phone 204 and the smart phone 205 was demonstrated here, the structure which changes the sharing of a relay apparatus for every device may be sufficient.

  The cloud server 201 can clearly confirm that the user desires cooperation between the smartphones 204 and 205 due to the presence of the password. The cloud server 201 displays a message prompting the other smartphone 205 to log in to the video conference application because the load is too large for the first smartphone 204. A password is given to the message, and by specifying the password with another smartphone, the video conference application determines that the two smartphones are distributed processing smartphones in the same place.

  In other words, in the case of changing the display, a new comfortable video conference can be performed simply by connecting the new smartphone 205 to the removed display 242. The cloud server 201 can detect reconnection when the device descriptor transmitted from the smartphone 204 comes from the smartphone 205. Then, the smartphone 205 can be used as a new mobile terminal.

  The distributed processing control unit 406 performs distributed control using the originally used mobile terminal and the newly added mobile terminal. Specifically, screen data to be displayed on the display 242 is sent to the smartphone 205. In addition, when using a plurality of mobile terminals as relay devices, control is performed so that a part of output data to a device connected to one mobile terminal is transmitted to a device connected to another mobile terminal. Also good.

(Overall processing flow)
A more detailed processing flow will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 5, first, the smartphone 204 accesses the cloud server 201 via the Internet, and instructs the cloud server 201 to execute and participate in the video conference (S505). The cloud server 201 activates the video conference application and registers users X, Y, and the like as the participants (S507).

  Next, the smartphone 204 detects connections of external devices necessary for the video conference such as the displays 241 and 242, the microphone 243, and other cameras, and acquires the external device information (S509). The cloud server 201 registers all the identification information of the external devices such as the displays 241, 242, the microphone 243, and other cameras connected to the smartphone 204 (S511). Next, the cloud server 201 transmits display data referred to in the video conference to the smartphone 204 as USBoverIP data (S513). The smartphone 204 unencapsulates the received display data IP capsule and transmits it as pure USB data to the displays 241 and 242 (S515). The displays 241 and 242 perform display based on the received display data (S517). At this time, when imaging is performed with cameras provided on the displays 241 and 242, the smartphone 204 transmits the imaging data to the cloud server 201 via the smartphone 204.

  In this way, the mobile terminal operates as a relay device of the video conference system using an external device, and establishes a connection with the video conference application existing in the cloud server 201 via the Internet. Then, the cloud server 201 connects to a video conference system of a connection destination (conference partner) (not shown) via the Internet.

  When the video conference is started, the communication load determination unit 220 monitors whether or not there is a possibility that the communication band is insufficient and the quality of video and audio is lowered when the video conference is used (S519). When the communication load determination unit 220 determines that there is over traffic (S521), the proposal unit 230 generates and transmits a proposal message (S523). That is, when there is another portable terminal that is held by a conference participant and is not used, it is proposed to add the portable terminal for connection. When other portable terminals can be identified from the conference participant table 411 or the user database 412 registered in the registration unit 210, “The communication band is insufficient. Do you want to connect Mr. B's smartphone? ”And a new connection method for increasing the number of mobile terminals as relay devices is proposed. The proposal message is relayed through the smartphone 204 (S525) and displayed on the displays 241 and 242 (S527).

  The video conference application may store, as history (knowledge), the type of mobile terminal used in the video conference held in the past, the location information of the video conference, the application used, the external device, and the like. In such a history, it may be possible to propose a setting for a multi-display conference that is most suitable for the mobile terminal that is currently in use, from the setting items that realize the multi-display connection. In addition, an item determined to be optimal may be set and automatically connected.

When the user decides to use the smartphone 205 as a mobile terminal for distributed processing, the user operates the smartphone 205 to perform a participation process as a relay device for the TV conference on the cloud server 201 (S529). For example, the smartphone 205 may be authenticated by distributing a password from the cloud server 201 to the smartphone 204 and inputting the password to the smartphone 205.
In response to this, the cloud server 201 registers the smartphone 205 as a mobile terminal used for the TV conference (S531). Further, when an external device (here, the display 242) is connected to the smartphone 205, the smartphone 205 acquires device information (a device descriptor of the display 242) (S533) and transmits it to the cloud server 201. The cloud server 201 performs device registration (S534).

  As a result, the number of mobile terminals (smartphones 204 and 205) that serve as relay devices increases, so that the setting is changed and the video conference is reconnected (S535).

  In the distributed processing, transmission data to an external device or the like is distributed and transmitted to a plurality of smartphones 204 and 205 (S537). In this case, when the display data is transmitted (S537), the smartphones 204 and 205 are relayed (S539 and S543) and transmitted to the displays 241 and 242.

  In this way, when the communication band is reduced when using a video conference, it is proposed to use a plurality of user terminals as an alternative means, and the communication is performed by using the plurality of user terminals as a relay device. It is possible to provide a method for improving quality.

  In this way, by using a mobile terminal such as a mobile phone as a relay device and using a device externally connected to the mobile terminal to realize an audio / video conference system linked to the cloud, the quality is higher than using a mobile phone alone A real-time video conference system can be realized.

  Next, an example of a method for determining how to combine a smartphone and an external device will be described with reference to FIG. In step S1201, the communication load determination unit 220 determines whether the total value of communication loads between the smartphone A (here, the smartphone 204) and a plurality of external devices (here, the displays 241 and 242) exceeds a predetermined value. judge. Next, in step S1203, the communication load determination unit 220 detects the communication load for each external device. Furthermore, in step S1205, the suggestion unit 230 selects an external device to be connected to the smartphone 205 (here, so that the communication load between the smartphone 204 and the smartphone 205 can be averaged among a plurality of external devices connected to the smartphone 204). Then, display 242) is selected. In step S1207, the user is suggested to connect the selected external device to the smartphone 205.

  Next, another example of a method for determining how to combine a smartphone and an external device in FIG. 13 will be described. In step S1301, the communication load determination unit 220 determines whether the total value of communication loads between the smartphone A (here, the smartphone 204) and a plurality of external devices (here, the displays 241 and 242) exceeds a predetermined value. judge. Next, in step S1303, the communication load determination unit 220 detects the communication load for each external device. Further, in step S 1305, the suggestion unit 230 selects an external device having the largest communication load among a plurality of external devices connected to the smartphone 204 as an external device to be connected to the smartphone 205. In step S1307, the user is suggested to connect the selected external device to the smartphone 205.

  On the cloud server 201 side, from a predetermined device list (a device with a history of connection in the past or a device connected to a smartphone) and the communication speed of the current smartphone, the external device is connected via another smartphone. Connect the connected display.

  The pattern which can realize the multi-display connection comfortably is stored in the data center as knowledge, and the optimum multi-display conference is set for the video conference environment to be executed. We propose from the setting items that succeeded from the accumulated knowledge. An item determined to be optimal may be set and automatically connected. Alternatively, for the conferences held in the past, the satisfaction level of the conference participants may be collected as a history such as 5 * and used as a reference for the next setting candidate menu presentation. Further, as an example, a conversation or chat during a meeting may be analyzed, and a part such as a bad sound may be automatically identified and accumulated as a history by measuring satisfaction. The sharing range of the setting menu may be equipped with a function that can change the disclosure and sharing range according to the wishes of the company or organization by detailed device parameters, general frame setting, shared conference system setting, etc. .

  Further, process innovation may be proposed by computing resources of the mobile terminals of the conference participants. As an example, if A is in a meeting and B also participates in the same meeting, a plurality of screens are displayed by combining two smartphones A and B. If the conference participant is only A, a plurality of screens may be provided by calculating system resources so as to provide an optimal plurality of screens using the smartphone of A. The application running on the cloud server 201 that is displayed on the smartphone 204 in three screens may be changed to two Mr. A and one Mr. B. Further, when it is desired to increase the number of screens (the number of contents) by adding a camera, a scanner, or a microscope, the number of portable terminals may be increased by the distributed processing.

  When a failure occurs in an external device, a portable terminal such as a smartphone may be used as a backup, and the output destination may be switched to a built-in device included in the portable terminal. The occurrence of a malfunction in the device can be recognized by a known technique such as no screen display or no sound. After a certain amount of time has elapsed since the malfunction occurred, display “Cannot connect” and display “Do you want to switch to smartphone device and reconnect?”.

  Finally, when the user selects reconnection, the user switches to a setting that does not use the external device in which the problem has occurred and reconnects the video conference. If not selected, after a certain period of time, “Do you want to switch to a smartphone device and reconnect?” Disappears and continues the video conference. In this way, when an external device becomes unusable for some reason when starting or using video conferencing, switch to a device built into a mobile phone or smartphone as an alternative. The video conference can be continued.

(Contents of various tables)
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the contents of the connected device table 211. The connected device table 211 registers external devices connected to each mobile terminal. When the display Q is switched to the smartphone B, the contents are updated as shown in FIG. The connected device table 211 may separately register external devices connected in the past. Then, the fact of reconnection will become clearer. The connected device table 211 desirably maintains the device information (device descriptor or the like) of the external device connected to the smartphone even after the external device is disconnected from the smartphone. When the distributed processing control unit 406 detects that an external device (here, display Q) is connected to another mobile terminal (here, smartphone B), it uses the maintained device information to communicate between them. The communication control unit 407 may be controlled so as to establish communication and perform communication using a mobile terminal and another mobile terminal in a distributed manner.

(Hardware configuration of cloud server)
The hardware configuration of the cloud server 201 will be described with reference to FIG. The cloud server 201 includes a CPU 801, a ROM 802, a communication control unit 407, a RAM 804, and a storage 805. The CPU 801 is a central processing unit and controls the entire cloud server 201 by executing various programs. A ROM 802 is a read-only memory, and stores various parameters and the like in addition to a boot program to be executed first by the CPU 801. A RAM 804 is a random access memory and temporarily stores various data. Here, in addition to the conference participant table 411 and the connection device table 211, display data 845, audio data 847, and the like for output to an external device are temporarily stored.

  On the other hand, the storage 805 stores the above-described user database 412 and conference content database 413 as well as the video conference application 855 so as to be executable. The video conference application 855 has at least a communication load monitoring module 856 and a distributed processing module 857. By executing the video conference application 855, the CPU 801 serves as a registration unit 210, a video conference screen generation unit 402, a communication load determination unit 220, a suggestion unit 230, a user instruction reception unit 405, a distributed processing control unit 406, and a communication control unit 407. Function.

(Processing flow in the cloud server)
The flow of processing in the cloud server 201 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  First, in step S901, a log-in process is performed based on information from the smartphone 204, and a video conference application is activated in step S903. In step S905, information such as conference participants and mobile terminals used is acquired. Furthermore, the device information of the connected external device is acquired via the portable terminal.

  In step S907, when a video conference is started, conference data is transmitted and received in step S909. Specifically, document image data for a conference, image data taken during the conference, audio data, and the like are transmitted and received. In step S911, it is determined whether the communication load for each portable terminal is equal to or less than a predetermined value. If it is equal to or smaller than the predetermined value, the process proceeds to step S921, and the processes in steps S909 and S911 are repeated until the conference is ended.

  On the other hand, if the communication load of a certain mobile terminal is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, the process proceeds to step S913, and additional use of another mobile terminal is proposed. At this time, when the cloud server 201 can identify such other available portable terminals, the other portable terminals are identified and proposed.

  In step S917, it is determined whether or not the external device has been reconnected. If there is a change of connection, the process proceeds to step S919 to perform distribution processing. Whether or not the connection has been changed can be determined based on whether or not a device descriptor of an external device relaying a certain portable terminal has been sent via another portable terminal. In the distributed processing in step S919, communication processing is distributed to the mobile terminals added by reconnection. Specifically, data exchanged with the connected external device is communicated via a new portable terminal.

  Finally, in step S921, when an instruction to end the conference is received from the mobile terminal, the process proceeds to step S923 to perform the video conference end processing.

  As described above, by using a portable mobile terminal such as a mobile phone as a relay device of the conference system, it is possible to construct a video conference system of higher quality than that used in a mobile phone alone. In addition, we will provide an inexpensive and easy-to-connect solution that allows you to hold a meeting on the go regardless of location, such as outdoor meetings, construction sites, and event venues.

  In addition, by using a plurality of mobile phones as relay devices for the conference system, a high-quality video conference system can be provided at a low cost and more simply than when the mobile phone is used alone.

  In particular, the cloud server can propose distributed communication to other mobile terminals according to the communication load with the mobile terminal, and can perform distributed communication using the other mobile terminals. As a result, since the configuration scale can be changed according to the communication load, communication via the network can be performed more effectively and efficiently. The user can perform distributed communication simply by switching the external device in response to the proposal from the server 201, and can reduce the troublesome troublesome setting.

  Although the TV conference system has been described in the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to any system that performs communication via a network.

[Third Embodiment]
An information processing apparatus according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. This embodiment is different from the second embodiment in that the server 201 can grasp a mobile terminal that can be used as a relay device in a video conference. Since other configurations and operations are the same as those of the second embodiment, description thereof is omitted here.

  FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram showing an overall processing flow of the information processing system according to the present embodiment. The difference from FIG. 5 is only step S1007 and step S1027, and the other processes are the same as those described in FIG. 5, and therefore the same processes are denoted by the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.

  In step S1007, the video conference application 855 is activated in the cloud server 201 and the participant is registered. At this time, as shown in FIG. 11, not only the name and the like but also the own portable terminal is registered for each conference participant.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the contents of the conference participant table 1111 according to the present embodiment. The video conference application registers conference participants notified from the user in the conference participant table 1111 and registers portable terminals that can be used by each conference participant for connection to the cloud server 201. The registration here may be performed, for example, with reference to the user database 412 in which the association between the user and the mobile terminal is originally registered.

  Such a conference participant table 1111 is prepared for each conference. If the conference participant table 1111 is registered, the server 201 can specify a mobile terminal that can be used as a relay device in the video conference. Therefore, the proposing unit 230 can identify and propose a mobile phone as a relay device to be connected next with reference to the conference participant table 1111 in step S523. Thereby, in step S1027, the smartphone 205 displays a proposal message.

  As mentioned above, according to this embodiment, the server can grasp | ascertain the portable terminal which can be used as a relay apparatus in the field of communication. And the connection with a device can be directly proposed with respect to the portable terminal which should be used as a relay apparatus.

[Other Embodiments]
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Various changes that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the configuration and details of the present invention within the scope of the present invention. In addition, a system or an apparatus in which different features included in each embodiment are combined in any way is also included in the scope of the present invention.

  In addition, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices, or may be applied to a single device. Furthermore, the present invention can also be applied to a case where an information processing program that implements the functions of the embodiments is supplied directly or remotely to a system or apparatus. Therefore, in order to realize the functions of the present invention on a computer, a program installed in the computer, a medium storing the program, and a WWW (World Wide Web) server for downloading the program are also included in the scope of the present invention. .

Claims (10)

A communication means for performing data communication with a portable terminal;
Determining means for determining whether or not a communication load between the mobile terminal and the communication means exceeds a predetermined reference value;
Proposed means for proposing addition of the number of portable terminals that perform data communication with the communication means to the user of the portable terminal via the portable terminal when the communication load exceeds the predetermined reference value; ,
When a new portable terminal is added to the data communication and communication with the communication means is established, the communication means is controlled to perform distributed communication using the portable terminal and the new portable terminal. Control means for
An information processing apparatus comprising: A registration unit for registering an external device connected to the mobile terminal;
The proposing means proposes to connect the external device from the mobile terminal to the new mobile terminal,
Wherein said control means further from said new portable terminal receives the device information of the external device connected to the new mobile terminal, the data which has been transmitted to the external device via the mobile terminal newly wherein The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is controlled to transmit to the external device via a portable terminal. A registration means for registering the portable terminal and the new portable terminal as devices usable for communication via a network;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the proposing unit proposes the distributed communication by referring to the registration unit. In the case where there are a plurality of external devices connected to the mobile terminal, the determination means determines whether the total value of communication loads for communicating with the plurality of external devices exceeds the predetermined reference value And detecting a communication load for each external device,
The proposing means includes the external device to be connected to the new mobile terminal so that a communication load can be averaged between the mobile terminal and the new mobile terminal among a plurality of external devices connected to the mobile terminal. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein a device is selected and proposed to the user. The determination unit determines whether or not a total value of communication loads for communicating with the plurality of external devices exceeds the predetermined reference value when there are a plurality of external devices connected to the mobile terminal. And detecting a communication load for each external device,
The proposing means selects the external device having the largest communication load from a plurality of external devices connected to the mobile terminal, and proposes to the user to reconnect to the new mobile terminal. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4. The registration means maintains the device information of the external device connected to the mobile terminal even after the external device is disconnected from the mobile terminal,
Said control means, said external device, said detects that it is connected to the new portable terminal, controls said communication means to perform a distributed and communicating with said mobile terminal and the new mobile terminal The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the information processing apparatus is an information processing apparatus. The external device is an external display;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the communication unit performs data communication for a video conference using the external display. A communication step for performing data communication with a mobile terminal;
A determination step of determining whether or not a communication load between the mobile terminal and the communication means exceeds a predetermined reference value;
A proposal step of proposing addition of the number of portable terminals that perform data communication with the communication means to the user of the portable terminal via the portable terminal when the communication load exceeds the predetermined reference value; ,
When a new portable terminal is added to the data communication and communication with the communication means is established, the communication means is controlled to perform distributed communication using the portable terminal and the new portable terminal. A control step to
An information processing method comprising: A communication step for performing data communication with a mobile terminal;
A determination step of determining whether or not a communication load between the mobile terminal and the communication means exceeds a predetermined reference value;
A proposal step of proposing addition of the number of portable terminals that perform data communication with the communication means to the user of the portable terminal via the portable terminal when the communication load exceeds the predetermined reference value; ,
When a new portable terminal is added to the data communication and communication with the communication means is established, the communication means is controlled to perform distributed communication using the portable terminal and the new portable terminal. A control step to
An information processing program for causing a computer to execute. A communication means for performing data communication with a portable terminal;
Determining means for determining whether or not a communication load between the mobile terminal and the communication means exceeds a predetermined reference value;
Proposed means for proposing addition of the number of portable terminals that perform data communication with the communication means to the user of the portable terminal via the portable terminal when the communication load exceeds the predetermined reference value; ,
When a new portable terminal is added to the data communication and communication with the communication means is established, the communication means is controlled to perform distributed communication using the portable terminal and the new portable terminal. Control means to
An information processing apparatus comprising:
The mobile terminal and the new mobile terminal;
An information processing system comprising:

Images