Control apparatus, communications control system, and non-transitory recording medium that stores program

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10375122-B2
Application number	US-201615249569-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2016
Priority date	Sep 1, 2015
Publication date	Aug 6, 2019
Grant date	Aug 6, 2019

Abstract

A control apparatus includes at least one processor configured to receive a request from a first communications terminal from among a plurality of communications terminals to select one or more relay apparatuses that relay content data transmitted and received between the first communications terminal and a second communications terminal from among the communications terminals; select one or more relay apparatuses included in one or more networks usable by the first communications terminal and the second communications terminal in response to the received request; and transmit identification information of the selected one or more relay apparatuses to the first communications terminal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A control apparatus comprising:
a network interface;
a storage unit, and
at least one processor configured to:
receive, through a network interface, a request from a first communications terminal from among a plurality of communications terminals to start a communication between the first communications terminal and a second communications terminal and select one or more relay apparatuses that relay content data transmitted and received between the first communications terminal and the second communications terminal from among the communications terminals, said one or more relay apparatuses including a first relay apparatus that belongs to a first intranet and a second relay apparatus that belongs to a second intranet that is connected to the first intranet via a network that is not an intranet;
search for one or more relay apparatuses that are included in intranets and usable for the communication between the first communications terminal and the second communications terminal;
select, based on a result of the search, the first and second relay apparatuses included in the first and second intranets usable by the first communications terminal and the second communications terminal in response to the received request; and
transmit, through the network interface, identification information of the selected first and second relay apparatuses to the first communications terminal from which the request was received,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
instruct the first and second relay apparatuses to directly communicate to each other, thereby performing the communication between the first communications terminal and the second communications terminal.

2. The control apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
read information stored in a storage unit where relay apparatuses respectively usable by the communications terminals are associated with identifiers of networks in which the relay apparatuses are included, and
select the one or more relay apparatuses included in the one or more networks in which the first communications terminal and the second communications terminal are included.

3. The control apparatus according to claim 2 ,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
store network addresses as the identifiers of the networks.

4. The control apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
select a second relay apparatus included in a second network of the second communications terminal for the first communications terminal if a first relay apparatus included in a first network other than the second network of the second communications terminal has been already selected for the first communications terminal.

5. The control apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
select a first relay apparatus included in a first network for transmitting content data to and receiving content data from the first communications terminal, and a second relay apparatus included in a second network for transmitting content data to and receiving content data from the second communications terminal, if the first communications terminal is included in the first network to which access from outside of the first network is restricted, and the second communications terminal is included in the second network to which access from outside of the second network is restricted, and
wherein the content data is transmitted and received between the first communications terminal and the second communications terminal via the first relay apparatus and the second relay apparatus.

6. The control apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to select a same relay apparatus located in one of the intranets when the first and the second communications terminals are located in the one of the intranets.

7. The control apparatus according to claim 1 ,
wherein the at least one processor is configured to select, based on the search result, only the first and second relay apparatuses included in the intranets usable by the first communications terminal and the second communications terminal in response to the received request.

8. The control apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the content data transmitted and received between the first communications terminal and the second communications terminal is kept within the first and second intranets during the communication.

9. A communications control system comprising:
a plurality of communications terminals; and
a control apparatus,
wherein
a first communications terminal from among the communications terminals comprises at least one processor configured to:
transmit a request to start a communication between the first communications terminal and a second communications terminal and select one or more relay apparatuses that relay content data transmitted and received between the first communications terminal and the second communications terminal from among the communications terminals, and

the control apparatus comprises:
a network interface;
a storage unit, and
at least one processor configured to:
receive, through a network interface, a request from a first communications terminal from among a plurality of communications terminals to start a communication between the first communications terminal and a second communications terminal and select one or more relay apparatuses that relay content data transmitted and received between the first communications terminal and the second communications terminal from among the communications terminals, said one or more relay apparatuses including a first relay apparatus that belongs to a first intranet and a second relay apparatus that belongs to a second intranet that is connected to the first intranet via a network that is not an intranet;
search for one or more relay apparatuses that are included in intranets and usable for the communication between the first communications terminal and the second communications terminal;
select, based on a result of the search, the first and second relay apparatuses included in the first and second intranets usable by the first communications terminal and the second communications terminal in response to the received request; and
transmit, through the network interface, identification information of the selected first and second relay apparatuses to the first communications terminal from which the request was received,

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
instruct the first and second relay apparatuses to directly communicate to each other, thereby performing the communication between the first communications terminal and the second communications terminal.

10. The communications control system according to claim 9 ,
wherein the at least one processor of the first communications terminal is further configured to:
display the identification information of the one or more relay apparatuses received from the control apparatus, and
receive an input from a user to select at least one of the one or more relay apparatus.

11. A non-transitory recording medium storing a program which, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to:
receive, through a network interface, a request from a first communications terminal from among a plurality of communications terminals to start a communication between the first communications terminal and a second communications terminal and select one or more relay apparatuses that relay content data transmitted and received betw

Assignees

• Miyamoto Atsushi
• Hinohara Hiroshi
• Horiuchi Takeshi
• Soneda Takuya
• Umehara Naoki
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Miyamoto Atsushi
• Hinohara Hiroshi
• Horiuchi Takeshi
• Soneda Takuya
• Umehara Naoki

Classifications

• H04L65/1046 Primary

  Call controllers; Call servers · CPC title

• H04L65/1069

  Session establishment or de-establishment · CPC title

• H04L65/1086

  session scope modification · CPC title

• H04L65/403

  Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences (data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15) · CPC title