JP2004110567A - Communication control method and apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication control method and apparatus for enabling communication between a plurality of terminals and enabling full communication between a user of a comparatively high power terminal and a user of comparatively low power terminal. <P>SOLUTION: A virtual terminal control part 14 manages a virtual terminal existing virtually by setting and registering its power in a virtual terminal DB 15, and the data given and received between the respective terminals such as a desk top PC 5A, a notebook-size PC 5B and a PDA 5C performing interactive communication are adjusted to the processing range of the power of the virtual terminal to perform communication. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a communication control method and apparatus, and more particularly, to a communication control method and apparatus for controlling communication between terminals having different capabilities.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, opportunities for connecting a plurality of types of terminals such as a PC (Personal Computer), a PDA (Personal Digital Assistance), and a mobile phone via a network, and performing various kinds of communication such as data communication between the terminals have increased. .
[0003]
When communication is performed between a plurality of types of terminals, the terminals often have different capabilities, such as differences in display capabilities and differences in communication capabilities due to differences in network environments.
[0004]
For this reason, when communication is performed between terminals having different capabilities, communication is performed by converting expression formats such as images and voices according to the capabilities. Is used to convert data and the like into a format suitable for the terminal and transmit the data, so that each terminal can obtain the maximum information according to its capability (for example, see Patent Document 1). reference).
[0005]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 10-326231 A
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, when communication such as a conference is performed using a plurality of terminals having different display abilities and communication capabilities of the connected network, a participant using a terminal having relatively high expression abilities and communication abilities is required to have a high level of expression abilities and The user cannot communicate with a participant who uses a terminal with relatively low communication ability and tries to communicate using high ability. In this case, even if the terminal has relatively low expression ability and communication ability, it is possible to perform communication by the above-described technique, but the amount of information to be transmitted and received is inevitably reduced.
[0007]
As a result, close communication can be established between participants using relatively high-capacity terminals, but sufficient information cannot be transmitted to participants using relatively low-capacity terminals. May occur.
[0008]
Therefore, the present invention provides communication control that enables communication between a plurality of terminals and enables sufficient communication between a user of a terminal having relatively high capability and a user of a terminal having relatively low capability. It is an object to provide a method and an apparatus.
[0009]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to achieve the above object, according to a first aspect of the present invention, in a communication control method for controlling data communication performed interactively between a plurality of terminals, a virtual terminal having a predetermined capability is set, and data communication is performed. And performing data communication according to the capabilities of the virtual terminal.
[0010]
The invention of claim 2 is characterized in that, in the invention of claim 1, the virtual terminal is set for each group with which each of the participating terminals communicates.
[0011]
According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the capability of the virtual terminal is set to the lowest capability among the capabilities of the participating terminals for each item indicating the capability. It is characterized by that.
[0012]
Also, in the invention of claim 4, according to the invention of claim 1, the capability of the virtual terminal weights the capability of each of the participating terminals for each of the items indicating the capability, and assigns the weight. It is set based on the average of the abilities.
[0013]
Further, in the invention of claim 5, in the invention of claim 4, when the capability of the participating terminal is lower than the capability of the virtual terminal, data transmitted to the participating terminal is set to the capability of the participating terminal. It is characterized in that it is converted into combined data.
[0014]
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, when the participating terminal transmits data requiring higher performance than the virtual terminal, communication of the data is cut off. And
[0015]
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication control apparatus for controlling data communication performed interactively between a plurality of terminals, comprising: a terminal capability management means for managing capabilities of virtual terminals; Terminal control means for causing each of the terminals to execute data communication according to the capabilities of the virtual terminal managed by the terminal capability management means.
[0016]
The invention of claim 8 is the invention of claim 7, wherein the terminal capability management means determines the capability of the virtual terminal for each group in which each of the participating terminals communicates.
[0017]
Further, the invention of claim 9 is the invention of claim 7, further comprising a method holding means for holding a method of determining the capability of the virtual terminal in the terminal capability management means, wherein the terminal capability management means comprises The capability of the virtual terminal is determined based on a determination method held by the holding unit.
[0018]
According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the ninth aspect of the present invention, the terminal capability management means is configured to determine, for each of the items indicating the capabilities of the virtual terminal, the lowest capability among the capabilities of the participating terminals. Is determined based on
[0019]
Also, in the invention of claim 11, in the invention of claim 9, the terminal capability management means weights the capability of each of the participating terminals for each item indicating the capability of the virtual terminal, The determination is based on the average of the weighted abilities.
[0020]
According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, in the invention of the eleventh aspect, the terminal control means converts data to be transmitted to the participating terminal having a lower capacity than the virtual terminal into data matching the capability of the participating terminal. It is characterized by doing.
[0021]
According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in the seventh aspect of the present invention, the terminal control means cuts off communication of data requiring a higher capability than the capability of the virtual terminal.
[0022]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, an embodiment of a communication control method and apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
[0023]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a communication system to which a communication control device according to the present invention is applied.
[0024]
In the communication system shown in FIG. 1, a communication control device 1 is connected to a network 2. The network 2 is connected to a GW (gateway) 3 connected to another network or the Internet, an AP (access point) 4 connected to a telephone line via a modem or the like, a terminal 5, and the like. The terminal 5 is also connected via the GW 3 and the AP 4.
[0025]
In this configuration, each terminal 5 connects to the communication control device 1 and communicates with each other via the communication control device 1.
[0026]
Here, the configuration of the communication control device 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the communication control device 1. The communication control device 1 includes a computer device and a program for operating the computer device.
[0027]
As shown in FIG. 1, the communication control device 1 includes a management GUI control unit 11, a terminal attribute management unit 12, a terminal attribute DB 13, a virtual terminal control unit 14, a virtual terminal DB 15, a policy management unit 16, a policy DB 17, It comprises a part 18. Note that the communication control device 1 does not necessarily need to be configured by one computer device, and may be configured by distributing each unit to a plurality of computer devices as needed.
[0028]
The management GUI control unit 11 is a GUI (Graphical User Interface) used by the administrator of the communication control device 1 to make settings for each of the terminal attribute management unit 12, the virtual terminal control unit 14, and the policy management unit 16. A GUI is displayed on a display unit such as a display (not shown) as necessary, and the settings input by the administrator are notified to the terminal attribute management unit 12, the virtual terminal control unit 14, and the policy management unit 16 .
[0029]
The terminal attribute management unit 12 manages the capabilities of each terminal 5, such as the display capability and the communication capability. Information on the capabilities of each terminal 5 is registered in the terminal attribute DB (database) 13, and the terminal attribute management unit 12 searches the terminal attribute DB 13 for information on the capabilities of the terminal 5 specified by the virtual terminal control unit 14. Then, the result is returned to the virtual terminal control unit 14. In addition, the terminal attribute management unit 12 adds information of a new terminal 5 to the terminal attribute DB 13 according to an instruction of the management GUI control unit 11 or the virtual terminal control unit 14, corrects information of the already registered terminal 5, Or delete.
[0030]
The virtual terminal control unit 14 classifies the terminals 5 participating in a series of dialogues, for example, the desktop PC 5A, the notebook PC 5B, and the PDA 5C, into groups, and configures and manages virtual terminals that are virtual terminals for each group. When configuring a virtual terminal, the virtual terminal control unit 14 classifies the terminals 5 based on an instruction from the management GUI control unit 11 or each terminal 5 and a policy obtained from the policy management unit 16, Generation and setting of the capability are performed, and the result is registered in the virtual terminal DB (database) 15. Further, the content of the dialogue transmitted from the dialogue processing control unit 18 to each terminal 5 and the content of the dialogue transmitted from each terminal 5 are determined according to the capability of the virtual terminal registered in the virtual terminal DB 15. Change the input ability of the user, select and change the transmission content.
[0031]
The policy management unit 16 manages a policy when the virtual terminal control unit 14 determines the configuration and capabilities of the virtual terminal. As a policy of a method of configuring a virtual terminal, for example,
-All terminals participating in the dialog are allocated to the same virtual terminal-The virtual terminal is divided into groups predetermined by the administrator and virtual terminals are configured for each group-The grouping is changed according to instructions from each terminal, and each group is changed And the like to configure a virtual terminal.
[0032]
Also, as a policy of a method for determining the capability of the virtual terminal, for example,
・ Adjust to the capability of the terminal with the lowest capability among the terminals belonging to the same group. ・ Weight each terminal automatically or by the instruction of the administrator, and convert the weight and the capability of each terminal to convert the virtual terminal Determining Capability • Defines the weight of the terminal according to an instruction from each terminal, and defines the capability of the virtual terminal by converting the weight and the capability of each terminal.
[0033]
The dialog processing control unit 18 transmits the data such as the conversation content transmitted from each terminal 5 to each of the designated terminals 5, for example, each of the terminals 5 belonging to the same group. To achieve.
[0034]
Next, details of information registered in each of the terminal attribute DB 13, the virtual terminal DB 15, and the policy DB 17 will be described.
[0035]
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing registered contents of the terminal attribute DB 13 managed by the terminal attribute management unit 12. As shown in the figure, a terminal ID, a terminal type, a display area, a displayable medium, a voice, and a communication speed are registered in the terminal attribute DB 13 for each of the terminals 5.
[0036]
The terminal ID is a number or a code for identifying each of the terminals 5, and is assigned when the terminal 5 is registered. The terminal type indicates the type of each terminal 5. The terminal attribute management unit 12 separately manages the values of the display area and the like for each terminal type, and defaults the values when a new terminal 5 is added. Can be used as a value. The display area indicates the size of the area that can be displayed on the terminal 5. It is used for screen configuration, image reduction, and the like.
[0037]
The displayable medium indicates a medium (data format) that can be used for display. The virtual terminal management unit 14 is used to determine the expression capability of the virtual terminal when configuring the virtual terminal, and to convert the expression format between each terminal. The voice is used by the virtual terminal control unit 14 to confirm whether the voice can be transmitted and received. The communication speed indicates the communication speed of the network to which the terminal 5 is connected. It is used to perform processing such as image compression and moving image frame rate reduction according to the communication speed.
[0038]
The registration of the terminal 5 in the terminal attribute DB 13 is performed in advance by the administrator, but may be performed by the user of the terminal 5 when the terminal 5 is connected. If the terminal 5 is portable such as a notebook PC, the communication environment may change each time (for example, LAN connection and dial-up connection), and the terminal 5 is registered in advance. This is because the information may not match the current situation.
[0039]
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing registered contents of the virtual terminal DB 15 managed by the virtual terminal control unit 14. As shown in the figure, a virtual terminal ID, a participating terminal ID, a display area, a displayable medium, a voice, and a communication speed are registered in the virtual terminal DB 15.
[0040]
The virtual terminal ID is a number or code assigned to identify each virtual terminal, and one virtual terminal is treated as a terminal having a predetermined specific capability. As the participating terminal IDs, the terminal IDs of the terminals 5 combined by one virtual terminal are listed. The terminals 5 listed here are all assumed to have the display capability and communication capability of the virtual terminal. If there is a gap between the capability of the virtual terminal and the capability of the actual terminal, a conversion is performed to fill the gap. It is feasible with the technology.
[0041]
The display area, displayable media, audio, and communication speed are the same as those registered in the terminal attribute DB 13, and indicate the capabilities of the virtual terminal.
[0042]
The value of each item registered in the virtual terminal DB 15 can be sequentially changed according to a policy managed by the policy management unit 16.
[0043]
FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 are diagrams showing registered contents of the policy DB 17 managed by the policy management unit 16. As shown in the figure, the policy DB 17 has a portion for registering a policy used when configuring a virtual terminal for an interactive session (see FIG. 5), and a portion for registering a capability for each virtual terminal. This is composed of two parts, a part for registering a policy to be registered (see FIG. 6). Note that the policy shown here is an example, and an arbitrary policy can be set.
[0044]
Next, an operation of the communication control device 1 will be described. First, a process of determining a configuration of a virtual terminal managed by the virtual terminal control unit 14 will be described. FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating the flow of the virtual terminal configuration determination process.
[0045]
In the virtual terminal determination process, first, the administrator inputs a desired session ID to the GUI displayed by the management GUI control unit 11, and the virtual terminal control unit 14 receives the session ID (step 101). Upon receiving the session ID, the virtual terminal control unit 14 acquires a virtual terminal configuration policy corresponding to the session ID from the policy management unit 16 (Step 102). Here, for the sake of simplicity, the acquired policy is assumed to be the same as that shown in FIG.
[0046]
If the acquired policy is “collective” (YES in step 103), the virtual terminal control unit 14 creates a virtual terminal entry (step 104). In creating this virtual terminal entry, a unique virtual terminal ID is assigned. Subsequently, the virtual terminal control unit 14 acquires the terminal ID of the terminal specified by the administrator input via the management GUI control unit 11 from the terminal attribute management unit 12, and sets the participating terminal (Step 105). Then, processing for setting the capability of the virtual terminal is performed (step 106). The details of the process of setting the capabilities of the virtual terminal will be described later.
[0047]
On the other hand, if the virtual terminal configuration policy acquired by the virtual terminal control unit 14 from the policy management unit 16 is “designated by administrator” (NO in step 103), creation of a virtual terminal entry and setting of a participating terminal Is set by the administrator via the management GUI 11 (step 107), and after the setting is completed, processing for setting the capability of the virtual terminal is performed (step 106).
[0048]
Next, a process of setting the capability of the virtual terminal, which is performed by the virtual terminal control unit 14, will be described. FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of the virtual terminal capability setting process.
[0049]
In the virtual terminal capability setting process, first, the virtual terminal control unit 14 acquires a virtual terminal capability setting policy from the policy management unit 16 based on the virtual terminal ID of the virtual terminal to be set (step 201). . If the acquired policy is “minimum capacity” (YES in step 202), the minimum capacity is calculated (step 203), the calculation result is set as the virtual terminal capacity, and registered in the virtual terminal DB 15 (step 204). ).
[0050]
In the calculation of the minimum capability, the capability of the virtual terminal is set using the minimum value for each capability of the participating terminal of the virtual terminal. As the displayable media, only those that can be handled in common by all terminals are set as displayable.
[0051]
On the other hand, when the policy for setting the virtual terminal capability acquired from the policy management unit 16 is “weighting” (NO in step 202), the capability is calculated based on the weighting (step 205), and the calculation result is virtual. It is set as the capability of the terminal and registered in the virtual terminal DB 15 (step 204).
[0052]
In the calculation of the capability by weighting, the capability of the virtual terminal is determined in consideration of the capability of each terminal and the weight set for each terminal. For example, the capability expressed as a numerical value, such as the size of the display area or the communication speed, is the average value of the numerical values, and the average value is used as the capability of the virtual terminal. For example, if the user has the capability, the value is 1; if the user does not have the capability, the value is 0. The value is weighted, and those whose average exceeds 0.5 can be displayed on the virtual terminal. To be considered.
[0053]
Next, the operation of the communication control device 1 when performing communication between the terminals 5 connected to the communication control device 1 will be described. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a flow of operation of the communication control device 1 when performing communication between terminals.
[0054]
When performing communication between the terminals 5, first, the virtual terminal control unit 14 acquires the virtual terminal ID of the output destination virtual terminal from the source terminal 5, and identifies the output destination virtual terminal from the virtual terminal DB 15. Search (step 301). Then, based on the search result, the virtual terminal control unit 14 acquires the capability of the corresponding virtual terminal from the virtual terminal DB 15 (Step 302).
[0055]
When acquiring the capability of the virtual terminal, the virtual terminal control unit 14 changes the setting of the terminal 5 which is the input source (step 303), and acquires the transmission content from the terminal 5 (step 304). Then, the transmission content is converted as necessary (step 305), and the transmission content is transmitted to the participating terminal of the virtual terminal via the interactive processing control unit 18 (step 306), and the processing as control of the virtual terminal ends. I do. The communication between the terminals 5 may be continued after this.
[0056]
Subsequently, a process for performing communication between terminals described with reference to FIG. 9 will be specifically described. For example, when a call is made from a terminal capable of interacting with a moving image to a terminal that cannot display the moving image, the process of acquiring the capability of the virtual terminal (step 302) indicates that the dialog using the moving image cannot be performed. Through the process of changing the setting of the source terminal (step 303), the communication using the moving image is temporarily interrupted. By this processing, the user of the terminal at the transmission source can understand that the moving image is not transmitted to the other party, and can recognize that the information should be transmitted using voice.
[0057]
If the output destination virtual terminal is a terminal that cannot input and output voice, the voice input from the source terminal is cut off, and the voice from other terminals involved in this dialog is output at least to the source terminal. Do not send to terminal. As a result, the user of the originating terminal can easily understand that the voice cannot be used for the conversation.
[0058]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, virtual terminals that exist virtually and their capabilities are set and managed, and data exchanged between terminals performing interactive communication is processed by the capabilities of the virtual terminals. Since the communication is performed within the range that can be performed, a user of a terminal having relatively high capability can easily transmit data adapted to a terminal having relatively low capability, It is possible to prevent a decrease in communication due to a difference in ability.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a communication system to which a communication control device according to the present invention is applied.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the communication control device 1.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing registered contents of a terminal attribute DB managed by a terminal attribute management unit.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing registered contents of a virtual terminal DB managed by a virtual terminal control unit.
FIG. 5 is a diagram (1) showing registered contents of a policy DB 17 managed by a policy management unit 16;
FIG. 6 is a diagram (2) showing registered contents of a policy DB 17 managed by a policy management unit 16;
FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of a virtual terminal configuration determination process.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a flow of a virtual terminal capability setting process.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a flow of operation of the communication control device 1 when performing communication between terminals.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 communication control device 2 network 3 GW
4 AP
5 Terminal 5A Desktop PC
5B Notebook PC
5C PDA
11 management GUI control unit 12 terminal attribute management unit 13 terminal attribute DB
14 virtual terminal control unit 15 virtual terminal DB
16 Policy Management Unit 17 Policy DB
18 Dialogue processing control unit

Claims (13)

A communication control method for controlling communication of data interactively performed between a plurality of terminals,
A communication control method, comprising setting a virtual terminal having a predetermined capability and causing each of participating terminals participating in data communication to execute data communication in accordance with the capability of the virtual terminal. The virtual terminal is
The communication control method according to claim 1, wherein the communication control method is set for each group in which each of the participating terminals communicates. The capabilities of the virtual terminal are:
2. The communication control method according to claim 1, wherein the lowest capability among the capabilities of each of the participating terminals is set for each item indicating the capability. The capabilities of the virtual terminal are:
2. The communication control method according to claim 1, wherein for each item indicating the capability, the capability of each of the participating terminals is weighted, and the weight is set based on an average of the weighted capabilities. The method according to claim 4, wherein when the capability of the participating terminal is lower than the capability of the virtual terminal, data to be transmitted to the participating terminal is converted into data matching the capability of the participating terminal. Communication control method. 2. The communication control method according to claim 1, wherein when the participating terminal transmits data that requires higher performance than the virtual terminal, communication of the data is interrupted. In a communication control device that controls data communication performed interactively between a plurality of terminals,
Terminal capability management means for managing the capabilities of virtual terminals;
A communication control device, comprising: terminal control means for causing each of participating terminals participating in data communication to execute data communication in accordance with the capability of a virtual terminal managed by the terminal capability management means. The terminal capability management means,
The communication control device according to claim 7, wherein the capability of the virtual terminal is determined for each group in which each of the participating terminals communicates. Further comprising a method holding means for holding a method for determining the capability of the virtual terminal in the terminal capability management means,
The terminal capability management means,
8. The communication control apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the capability of the virtual terminal is determined based on a determination method held by the method holding unit. The terminal capability management means,
The communication control device according to claim 9, wherein each of the items indicating the capabilities of the virtual terminal is determined based on the lowest capability among the capabilities of each of the participating terminals. The terminal capability management means,
10. The communication according to claim 9, wherein for each of the items indicating the capabilities of the virtual terminal, the capabilities of each of the participating terminals are weighted, and the weight is determined based on an average of the weighted capabilities. Control device. The terminal control means,
The communication control device according to claim 11, wherein data to be transmitted to the participating terminal having a lower capability than the virtual terminal is converted into data that matches the capability of the participating terminal. The terminal control means,
8. The communication control device according to claim 7, wherein communication of data requiring higher performance than the virtual terminal is interrupted.

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