JPH09214618A - Communication equipment and communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To protect the security of a participant in an electronic conference by using an old server program. SOLUTION: A conference terminal 101 receives a request for participating in a conference from outside by a reception means 102, authenticates the participants by an authenticating means and then the reception means 102 judges the permission/rejection of participating by additionally referring to a file or judging by a user. A permission setting means 104 sets the permission of input/ output operation to a window server 106 from outside by the participant based on the judgement of permission. The judgement can be executed by automatically judging a person inappropriate for participating by referring to the prepared list of names, automatically judging a person appropriate for participating by referring to another list and judging a person who does not come under both lists by displaying the name of the requesting person and allowing a user to judge.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication device such as a terminal device and a communication system suitable for use in an electronic conference system or the like in which a display is shared among a plurality of terminals.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an electronic conferencing system in which a plurality of terminals are used to mutually communicate still images and the like, in order to share the display of the program, the data of the sending side program operating on one terminal is stored. The receiving programs on all terminals may receive and perform display operations. In that case, if the transmission / reception program is dedicated for electronic conferences, etc., the transmission program and the reception program are provided with dedicated authentication means and operation refusal / acceptance processing means, so that there is no security problem. It is possible. On the other hand, in order to operate by sharing a general program that is not dedicated to electronic conferences among multiple terminals,
Alternatively, in order to save the trouble of creating a dedicated reception program, a display operation from a general program running on one terminal is often received by a general-purpose display operation program of each terminal to perform the display operation. In a workstation or the like, this reception display operation is realized by using a server program called a window server.

In addition to a window server, a file I / O server is often used as a server program that provides some service based on a request from the outside. The file I / O server transfers data from a file to a requester according to a request from the outside. Like the window server, this file I / O server has been developed independently of the application of electronic conferencing, so it cannot be set to allow access to conference participants, and therefore individual passwords are required. It is either excessively strict security protection such as doing so, or excessively loose security protection such as allowing access to anyone. For example, the window server has a method of designating the person to whom operation permission is given in order to prevent execution of the display operation instruction sent from an inappropriate person. Since it is not possible to limit the communication partner in advance, the permission is given to the display operation instruction from any partner.

[0004]

However, when a service server such as a window server is used as described above, it becomes impossible to reject an operation instruction from an inappropriate partner, which causes a problem in security. Was coming.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to obtain a communication device and a communication system used in an electronic conference system or the like that can protect participants by using a server program and perform communication.

[0006]

In a communication device according to the present invention, a decision means for accepting a request to participate in mutual communication and for determining permission or refusal of participation, and a signal input / output operation for an external communication device are performed. A program means and a permission setting means for permitting an input / output operation to / from the program means by a requester who has made a participation request according to the permission determination of the determination means are provided.

In the communication system according to the present invention, a predetermined terminal device determines whether or not an access request for communication from another terminal device can be made.

[0008]

According to the communication device of the present invention, the determination means determines whether to permit or deny participation to the participation requester, and the permission setting means performs the input / output operation from the participant to the program means according to the determination of the participation permission. Set permissions.

According to the communication system of the present invention, when an access request such as a request for participation in communication is given from a certain terminal device, only a predetermined terminal device determines whether or not the request can be made.

[0010]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment applied to a communication system as an electronic conference system of the present invention. In the figure, 101 is one of the conference terminals as a communication device that participates in an electronic conference. In the conference terminal 101, 102 is a receiving unit that receives and processes a request to join and leave the conference and determines whether to permit or reject the request. 103 is an authenticating unit that authenticates the sender of the request and notifies the receiving unit 102. Is permission setting means for setting the operation permission from the outside by the requester who is permitted to the window server 106 according to the judgment of the receiving means 102, and 105 is withdrawn to the window server 106 according to the judgment of the receiving means 102. Permission canceling means for canceling the operation permission from the outside by the requesting participant, and 106 is a window server for performing input / output operations such as display.

Reference numeral 107 denotes a conference server that manages information on the members participating in the conference and the host name of the working terminal.
Reference numeral 08 is a display device, and 109 is an input device operated by the user.

The conference terminal 101 receives a request for participation in the conference from the outside by the accepting means 102 and authenticates the requester by the authenticating means 1.
03 is used to determine whether to permit or deny the request, and in the case of permission, the permission setting unit 104 refers to the conference server 107 as necessary to appropriately permit operation from the outside to the window server. Set to 106. Further, in the conference terminal 101, the accepting unit 102 receives an exit request from a conference participant, and the permission canceling unit 105 refers to the conference server 107 as necessary and sets the window server 106 to cancel the operation permission from the outside.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the operation of the participation request process of the electronic conference system. In the figure, S20
1 is a request receiving step for receiving a participation request from the outside, S202 is an authentication step for authenticating a requester, S20
Reference numeral 3 is a step for judging whether or not the authentication has been correctly performed, S20
4 is an automatic determination step for automatically determining whether to permit or deny the participation request based on the information set in advance by the user, S205 is a determination step for determining whether or not the automatic determination has been performed, and S206 is a permission for the participation request or A user determination step of inquiring the user of the determination of refusal, S207 is a step of determining the determination result of the user, S208 is a permission setting step of setting operation permission from the outside to the window server 106, and S209 is a participation requester. Permission message transmitting step for transmitting the permission message of step S21
Reference numeral 0 is a rejection message transmission step of transmitting a participation rejection message to the participation requester.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to the above flow chart. The system using the present invention newly receives a request to join a conference from another user when the own terminal has already joined the conference, and newly when the own terminal has not joined the conference. It operates in two situations, when receiving a request to join a conference from another user.

First, in step S201, the accepting means 102 accepts a participation request from the outside. Next, the accepting means 102 authenticates the other party who has issued the request in step S202, using the authenticating means 103. Then, determination step S20
If it is determined in 3 that the requesting party cannot be correctly authenticated, the process proceeds to a reject message transmission step S210. If it is determined that the authentication has been correctly performed, permission or rejection of the participation request is automatically determined in step S204. In that case, the accepting means 102 refers to a specific file previously set by the user of the terminal, and if the file contains the name of the other party who has issued the participation request, it is automatically determined to be permitted. If it is determined that the determination is permitted in step S205, the process proceeds to permission setting step S208.

If it is determined that the determination cannot be automatically made, the process proceeds to the user determination step of step S206. In step S206, a panel for requesting the user's determination is popped up on the screen of the display device 108,
Whether to permit or deny is determined based on the input operation of the input device 109 by the user. If the determination is determined to be permitted in step S207, the permission setting step S208 is performed, and if the determination is denied, the rejection message transmission step S21 is performed.
Go to 0.

In the permission setting step S208, when the terminal itself has already participated in the conference, the conference server 107 and the permission setting means 104 are instructed to add the party who has issued the participation request. When the terminal itself is not participating in the conference, the permission setting unit 104 is instructed to add all the members of the conference so that communication with all the members already in the conference is possible. Permission setting means 104
Communicates to the window server 106 so as to add the designated person or member as a person who is permitted to operate the screen.

Here, when it is instructed to add all the members of the conference or when the host name of the target party is required in the subsequent processing, the permission setting means 104 causes the conference server 107 to obtain the necessary information. To inquire. Conference server 10
7 is realized in a client-server format which has been widely used in recent years, and the permission setting means 104 communicates with the conference server 107 using a function for a client.

Then, in step S209, a request permission message is transmitted to the partner who has issued the participation request, and the participation request process is terminated. If the participation request is rejected, a request rejection message is transmitted to the partner who has issued the participation request in the rejection message transmission step S210, and the participation request process is terminated.

Window server 1 of permission setting means 104
The communication content to 06 is the X-Windows Server which is often used in this field for the window server 106.
Then, the addition operation of the person who permits the screen operation is X-
It is realized by using a command associated with the Windows System, such as xhost hostname or xhost username @ domain. Here, "hostname" indicates the host name of the target terminal's working terminal, and us
ername @ domain indicates the user name of the target partner and the domain name in which the user is managed.

Authentication step S20 by the authentication means 103
2 is implemented using public key cryptography with a digital signature method known in the art. This is because the key server generates a private private key / public key pair, the sender transmits the encrypted message using the private key, and the communication destination uses the public key for the sender's individual. By deciphering, confirm that it is the message of the person concerned. For details, see Information Processing vol.30, No.8, pp.892.
-901, "Trends in cryptography and security".

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a panel that pops up on the screen of the display device 108 in the user determination step S206. FIG. 3A shows a panel when the terminal itself has already participated in the conference. b) is the panel in other cases. Reference numerals 301 to 304 denote buttons displayed on the panel.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing the detailed operation of the user determination step S206. Step S401
Then, in the case where the own terminal has already participated in the conference and it is determined whether or not another member can join, it is determined in FIG. 3B whether the own terminal newly joins the conference in response to a request from another person. When doing so, the panel of FIG. 3A is popped up, and the user is asked to select the button by pressing it. Join button 30
If 1 or the participation permission button 303 is pressed, the process proceeds to the participation permission process in step S402, and the determination is ended as the participation permission in step S406. When the non-participation button 302 or the participation refusal button 304 is pressed, the process proceeds to the participation refusal process in step S403, and the determination is rejected in step S405 and the process ends. If it is determined in step S404 that the button has not been pressed within the preset time, it is determined that the time-out has occurred, and step S4
At 05, the judgment is rejected and the process ends. The request for participation in the conference is processed as described above.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the procedure for exiting from the conference. Step S501 is a step of accepting an exit request, step S502 is a step of canceling permission for screen operation, and step S503 is a step of transmitting an exit acceptance message.

When a conference participant leaves the conference or the conference ends, a leave request is transmitted to each terminal by means not shown. In step S501, the conference terminal 101 receives the exit request from the conference participant by the acceptance unit 102, and in step S502, the permission cancellation unit 105 cancels the operation permission cancellation from the outside by the exit requester.
Set to When the host name of the target partner is required, the permission canceling unit 105 inquires of the conference server 107 about the necessary information. Permission cancellation step S502
After that, in step S503, the exit acceptance message is returned to the sender of the exit request, and the process ends.

Assuming that the window server 106 is an X-Window Server which is widely used in this field, the cancel operation of the other party who permits the screen operation is X-W.
It is realized by using a command associated with the window system, such as xhost-hostname or xhost-username @ domain. Here, hostname is the host name of the working terminal of the target partner, user
ame @ domain is the user name of the target partner and the domain name in which the user is managed.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the second embodiment. In the above-described first embodiment, the present invention is used as the security mechanism for the window server 106 for display operation, but in the present embodiment, it is used as the security mechanism for the shared file server. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 601 is one of the conference terminals participating in the electronic conference, 602 is a receiving means for receiving and processing the participation request and the exit request for the conference, 603 is an authentication means for authenticating the sender of the request, and 604 is sharing. Permission setting means for setting the operation permission from the outside by the requester permitted to the file server 606; 605, permission cancellation means for canceling the operation permission from the outside by the exit requester to the shared file server 606; A shared file server that performs input / output / transmission / reception operations of data files and the like, 607 is a conference server that manages information on the participating members of the conference and the host name of the terminal that is working, and 608 is a file that the shared file server 606 uses.

Next, the operation will be described. Conference terminal 60
1 is a means 602 for accepting a request for participation in a conference from the outside.
Then, the requester is authenticated by using the authenticating means 603, and then it is determined whether to permit or reject the request. In the case of permitting, the permission setting means 604 refers to the conference server 607 as necessary, and Appropriate operation permission from the outside by the requester is set in the shared file server 606.

Further, the conference terminal 601 receives an exit request from a conference participant by the acceptance means 602, and the permission cancellation means 605 refers to the conference server 607 as necessary to cancel the operation permission from the outside by the exit requester. The shared file server 606 is set. Further, when a conference participant leaves the conference or the conference ends, a leave request is transmitted to each terminal by means not shown. The conference terminal 601 receives an exit request from the conference participant by the acceptance unit 602, and the permission cancellation unit 605 sets in the shared file server 606 the cancellation of the operation permission from the outside by the exit requester. When the host name of the target partner is required, the permission cancellation means 6
05 inquires the conference server 607 about necessary information.
After that, the exit acceptance message is returned to the sender of the exit request, and the process ends.

The actual method of setting and canceling the access permission to the shared file server is realized by transmitting an appropriate command according to the mounting method of each shared file. For example, for additional settings add user username @ domain
[Usergroup] To remove / cancel del user username @ domain
It is set like [usergroup]. Here, usergroup can be omitted. If specified, the usergroup
To a file that you have permission to access
The user specified by e @ domain can access. Usergroup for conference session
p can be set. With such a configuration, not only the shared file server 606 for display but also access to the file information shared in the conference can be easily shared and used by the conference participants,
It is possible for non-participants to safely protect and use it.

According to the first and second embodiments described above,
In the electronic conference system, it is possible to realize a communication device as a conference terminal capable of safely protecting a participant and performing communication by using a server program.

Next, a third embodiment will be described.
In the above-described first and second embodiments, there is a situation in which the acceptance / rejection determination by the acceptance unit 102 is excessively complicated depending on the situation, or conversely, there is no degree of freedom to make necessary settings. For example, in the case of a highly public service, it is necessary to give permission for participation to an extremely large number of people, and in such a case, it is difficult to specify all the available members in advance. On the contrary, it is more practical to prepare a kind of blacklist as a list of people who may be illegally used, and to examine the people who correspond to this with a special judgment means. Therefore, the present embodiment aims at allowing the setter to set various determination means of participation permission / inhibition according to the situation.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the operation of the participation request process of the communication system as the electronic conference system according to the third embodiment. Note that FIG. 1 is used for the configuration here. In FIG. 7, S701 is a request acceptance step of accepting a participation request from the outside, S702 is an authentication step of authenticating the requester, S703 is a determination step of whether or not the authentication is successful, and S704 is preset by the user. An automatic refusal determination step of automatically determining refusal of the participation request based on the first information, S705 is a determination step of whether or not the automatic refusal determination is satisfied, S706
Is an automatic permission determination step of automatically determining permission of the participation request based on the second information set by the user in advance, S707 is a determination step of whether or not the automatic permission determination is satisfied, and S708 is a user determination. S709 is a user determination step of inquiring the user whether to accept or reject the participation request, and S710 is a determination step of whether the participation request is permitted as a result of the user determination.
S711 is a participation permission processing step for performing participation permission processing such as setting operation permission from the outside to the window server or the like and transmitting a permission message to the participation requester, and S712 is denial of participation to the participation requester. Is a participation refusal processing step of performing participation refusal processing such as sending the message.

Step S713 is a step of deciding whether or not to perform confirmation processing for the user when the automatic refusal decision is denied.
714 is a user determination step for confirming the user with respect to the requester who has been automatically rejected, S715 is a determination step for determining whether or not the request is permitted, and S716 is a confirmation process for the user when permitted by the automatic permission determination. Step S717 is a user determination step for confirming the user with respect to the requester who has been automatically permitted, and step S718 is a step for determining whether the request is permitted.

Next, the operation will be described with reference to the flowchart. First, in step S701, the accepting unit 102 accepts a participation request from the outside. Next, the receiving means 102
Authenticates the other party who has issued the request in step S702.
Authenticate using 3. Then, if the other party who has issued the request in the determination step S703 cannot be correctly authenticated, the process proceeds to a request rejection processing step S712. If it is determined that the authentication is successful, the participation request is automatically rejected in step S704. In that case, the receiving means 102
Refers to the first file previously set by the user of the terminal 101, and if the list of this file includes the name of the person who has issued the participation request, it is automatically determined to be rejected. When it is determined that the determination is refusal in step S705, the process proceeds to determination step S713. In step S713, the presence / absence of the confirmation determination is determined based on the data designating the presence / absence of the confirmation determination for the automatic refusal. If it is determined that the confirmation determination is present, the process proceeds to the user determination step S714. If it is determined that there is no confirmation determination, the request rejection processing step S
Proceed to 712. In the user determination step S714, the name of the requester and the fact of the automatic rejection determination are presented to the user, and the user is asked to confirm the rejection. If the refusal is confirmed in step S715, a request refusal processing step S7
Proceed to 12. If not rejected, the process proceeds to request permission processing step S711.

If it is not determined to be rejected in step S705, permission of the participation request is automatically determined in step S706. In that case, the accepting means 102 refers to the second file previously set by the user of the terminal 101, and if the name of the partner who has issued the participation request is in the list of this file, it is automatically determined to be permitted. If the determination is determined to be permitted in step S707, the process proceeds to determination step S716. In step S716, the presence / absence of the confirmation determination is determined based on the data designating the presence / absence of the confirmation determination for the automatic permission. If it is determined that the confirmation determination is present, the process proceeds to user determination step S717. If it is determined that there is no confirmation determination, the process proceeds to request permission processing step S711. In the user determination step S717, the name of the requester and the fact that the automatic permission determination is made are presented to the user, and the user is asked to confirm the permission. If the permission is confirmed in step S718, the process proceeds to request permission processing step S711. If not permitted, the process proceeds to step S712 of request rejection.

If the judgment cannot be automatically made in step S707, it is judged in judgment step S708 whether or not the user judgment is made by referring to the data designating the presence / absence of the user judgment when it is not decided, and the user judgment is not made. In this case, the process proceeds to request rejection processing step S712. If the user determination is made, the process proceeds to the user determination step of step S709.
In step S709, a panel requesting the user's determination is popped up on the screen of the terminal, and permission or rejection is determined based on the user's input. If the determination is permission in step S710, the process proceeds to request permission processing step S711.
In the case of refusal, the process proceeds to request rejection processing step S712.

In step S711 of request permission, if the own terminal 101 has already participated in the conference, the conference server 107 and the permission setting means 104 are instructed to add the party who has issued the participation request or the participation request. To do. If the terminal 101 is not already participating in the conference, the permission setting unit 104 is instructed to add all the members of the conference. The permission setting means 104 communicates with the window server 106 so as to add the designated partner or member as a partner who is permitted screen operation. Next, a request permission message is transmitted to the partner who has issued the participation request, and the participation request process ends. If the participation request is rejected, a request rejection message is transmitted to the partner who has issued the participation request in step S712 for request rejection, and the participation request process ends. In addition, the first and second files used for automatic determination include Any, which means all members.
You can specify Person.

By performing the above processing, it is possible to flexibly set the automatic refusal determination, the automatic permission determination, and the respective confirmation operations. For example, if the first file for the automatic refusal determination is emptied, the presence or absence of the user determination in step S708 is specified, and the presence or absence of the confirmation determination in step S716 is set, only the members described in the second file are set. Can be accessed and the user can be confirmed at the time of access. In this case, the second file is Any
By specifying Person, it is possible to monitor the usage status of services that are applied to anyone who is public.

If the second file for automatic permission judgment is set to AnyPerson, the presence / absence of user judgment in step S716 is designated, and the presence / absence of confirmation judgment in step S713 is specified, it is described in the first file. You can check the status of access denial from members. In this case, the first file is like a blacklist, where only the access of people with special restrictions can be monitored.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, the existing server can be easily used by the users of the communication system such as conference participants, and the access from other people is protected safely. Not only can services be provided, but also flexible user management can be performed by making it possible to specify automatic rejection, automatic permission, user confirmation, presence / absence of user determination, and the like.

The first to third embodiments described above are
This is a case where the present invention is applied to an electronic conference system, but the present invention is not limited to this and can be applied when a predetermined terminal controls access between a plurality of terminals on a network.

[0043]

As described above, according to the present invention, the existing server can be used easily by the users of the communication system such as the conference participants and the access from other people. Can provide secure and protected services.

Further, by providing an automatic refusal determination means, an automatic permission determination means, a user determination means, and the like so that automatic rejection, automatic permission, user confirmation, presence / absence of user determination, etc. can be designated, flexible user management It can be performed.
Further, by using the window server or the file server, it becomes possible to permit access from the conference participants while maintaining appropriate security for screen display operations or file input / output operations.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation of a participation request process of the electronic conference system using the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram showing a panel that pops up on a screen in a second user determination step S206.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a detailed operation of a user determination step S206.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an exit processing procedure from a conference.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the third embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 conference terminal 102 acceptance means 103 authentication means 104 permission setting means 105 permission cancellation means 106 window server 107 conference server 601 conference terminal 602 acceptance means 603 authentication means 604 permission setting means 605 permission cancellation means 606 shared file server 607 conference server

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Office reference number FI technical display location // H04L 12/18 9466-5K H04L 11/18

Claims (13)

[Claims] 1. A decision means for accepting a request for participation in mutual communication and deciding whether to permit or deny participation, a program means for inputting / outputting a signal to / from an external communication device, and a decision for permission of the decision means. And a permission setting means for permitting an input / output operation to the program means by the requester who has requested the participation. 2. The communication device according to claim 1, further comprising authentication means for authenticating the requester, wherein the judging means judges the requester authenticated by the authenticating means. 3. Accepting means for accepting a participation cancellation request by a participant to the mutual communication, and permission of input / output operation to the program means by a requester who has made the cancellation request in response to the acceptance by the accepting means. The communication device according to claim 1, further comprising: a permission cancellation unit that cancels the permission. 4. The determination means compares a list of preset names with the name of the requester, and displays the name of the requester when the name of the requester is in the list. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the user makes a determination as to whether or not to participate. 5. The determination means is an automatic refusal determination means for automatically selecting an unsuitable person according to a preset list of names, and a suitable participation according to another preset list of names. Automatic permission determination means for automatically selecting persons,
The communication apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a first user determination unit that displays the name of the requester and determines whether or not the user inputs whether or not to participate, when the list does not correspond to either of the lists. 6. The communication device according to claim 5, further comprising a second user determination means for confirming to the user whether the person who is unsuitable for participation or the person who is suitable for participation is the result of the automatic determination. 7. The communication device according to claim 5, further comprising a specifying unit that specifies not to use the first user determination unit. 8. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the program means is a server program. 9. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the program means is a window server. 10. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the program means is a shared file server. 11. A communication system for communicating between a plurality of terminal devices connected via a network, wherein a predetermined terminal device determines whether or not an access request for the communication from another terminal device can be made. Communication system. 12. The communication system according to claim 11, wherein the predetermined terminal device includes an authenticating unit that authenticates the participant who has issued the access request. 13. The communication system according to claim 11, wherein the communication system is an electronic conference system.