Transmission management apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9307197-B2
Application number	US-201213989665-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 22, 2012
Priority date	Feb 28, 2011
Publication date	Apr 5, 2016
Grant date	Apr 5, 2016

Abstract

A transmission management apparatus manages transmission states of a plurality of transmission terminals including a first transmission terminal and a second transmission terminal. The apparatus includes a terminal management table storage unit configured to store therein a terminal management table in which terminal information including an identifier and an identification name of each transmission terminal is managed; a receiving unit configured to receive a terminal information request signal from the first transmission terminal, the terminal information request signal indicating a request for information for identifying the second transmission terminal, the first and second transmission terminals being in transmission therebetween; a terminal state acquisition unit configured to acquire the information for identifying the second transmission terminal from the terminal management table in response to the terminal information request signal; and a transmitting unit configured to transmit the information acquired by the terminal state acquisition unit to the first transmission terminal.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A transmission management apparatus for managing transmission states of a plurality of transmission terminals, the transmission management apparatus comprising:
a memory configured to store a transmission state of each transmission terminal of the plurality of transmission terminals in association with information identifying the transmission terminal;
a receiver configured to receive a terminal information request from one transmission terminal that is currently in a communication transmission state through an established session with a second transmission terminal from among the plurality of transmission terminals, the terminal information request indicating a request for information for identifying the second transmission terminal that is currently in a communication transmission state with the one transmission terminal;
processing circuitry configured to acquire the information for identifying the second transmission terminal based on the transmission states stored by the memory in response to receiving the terminal information request; and
a transmitter configured to transmit the information acquired by the processing circuitry to the one transmission terminal.

2. The transmission management apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a destination list management table memory configured to store therein a destination list management table in which a destination list including identifiers of the transmission terminals that have been already registered is stored for each of the transmission terminals, wherein
the processing circuitry acquires, if the identifier of the at least one of the other transmission terminals is registered in the destination list for the one transmission terminal, the identifier and the identification name of the at least one of the other transmission terminals and the identifier of the transmission terminal that is not registered in the destination list of the one transmission terminal from the terminal management table in response to the terminal information request.

3. A transmission system, comprising:
a plurality of transmission terminals; and
a transmission management apparatus configured to manage transmission states of the transmission terminals, wherein the transmission management apparatus includes
a memory configured to store a transmission state of each transmission terminal of the plurality of transmission terminals in association with information identifying the transmission terminal,
a receiver configured to receive a terminal information request from one transmission terminal that is currently in a communication transmission state through an established session with a second transmission terminal from among the plurality of transmission terminals, the terminal information request indicating a request for information for identifying the second transmission terminal that is currently in a communication transmission state with the one transmission terminal,
processing circuitry configured to acquire the information for identifying the second transmission terminal based on the transmission states stored by the memory in response to receiving the terminal information request, and
a transmitter configured to transmit the information acquired by the processing circuitry to the one transmission terminal, and

each of the transmission terminal includes
a transmitter configured to transmit the terminal information request indicating the request for information for identifying at least one of the transmission terminals to the transmission management apparatus, the transmission terminal and the at least one of the transmission terminals being in communication transmission therebetween,
a receiver configured to receive the information transmitted from the transmission management apparatus in response to the terminal information request, and
a display controller configured to cause a display to display the information received by the receiver.

4. A transmission management method for managing transmission states of a plurality of transmission terminals using a transmission management apparatus, the transmission management method comprising:
receiving a terminal information request from one transmission terminal that is currently in a communication transmission state through an established session with a second transmission terminal from among the plurality of transmission terminals, the terminal information request indicating a request for information for identifying the second transmission terminal that is currently in a communication transmission state with the one transmission terminal;
acquiring the information for identifying the second transmission terminal based on transmission states stored in a memory that stores a transmission state of each transmission terminal in association with information identifying the transmission terminal, in response to receiving the terminal information request; and
transmitting the acquired information to the one transmission terminal.

5. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable medium including programmed instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by a computer included in a transmission management apparatus for managing transmission states of a plurality of transmission terminals using a transmission management apparatus, cause the computer to execute:
receiving a terminal information request from one transmission terminal that is currently in a communication transmission state through an established session with a second transmission terminal from among the plurality of transmission terminals, the terminal information request indicating a request for information for identifying the second transmission terminal that is currently in a communication transmission state with the one transmission terminal;
acquiring the information for identifying the second transmission terminal based on transmission states stored in a memory that stores a transmission state of each transmission terminal in association with information identifying the transmission terminal, in response to receiving the terminal information request; and
transmitting the acquired information to the one transmission terminal.

6. The transmission management apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the receiver receives the terminal information request from the one transmission terminal, while the one transmission terminal receives image data from the at least one of the other transmission terminals.

7. The transmission management apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the transmitter transmits the information acquired by the processing circuitry to the one transmission terminal, which displays the information on a screen of the one transmission terminal.

Assignees

• Kato Yoshinaga
• Okuyama Taro
• Ricoh Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kato Yoshinaga
• Okuyama Taro

Classifications

• H04N7/152 Primary

  Multipoint control units therefor · CPC title

• H04N7/15 Primary

  Conference systems · CPC title

• H04N7/147 Primary

  Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals (selecting H04Q) · CPC title

• H04M3/567

  Multimedia conference systems · CPC title

• H04L65/1059

  End-user terminal functionalities specially adapted for real-time communication · CPC title