JPH07297824A - Communication control device and communication control method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To provide a communication control device that simplifies the procedure for joining a system when a plurality of multipoint-to-multipoint connections are set between a plurality of terminals such as a computer-aided collaborative work system. To do. [Structure] The user information processing unit 101 selects a group set by the group setting unit 13 and sends a connection setting command signal to the connection setting unit 19, and the connection setting unit 19 determines group identification information according to the connection setting command. When a correspondence table of connection identification information is created and the user information processing unit 101 transmits data, the transmission user information is output to the destination header generation unit 12 and a signal designating a group indicating the transmission partner is set as a group. The information is output to the unit 13 and the user information is broadcasted only to the communication terminals belonging to the group.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication control device used in a communication network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a collaborative work support system using computers connected by a communication network has been developed.

In such a collaborative work support system, since it is necessary for all users to hold the same data, it is a multipoint two-point communication which is a communication connection that allows all users to read data. A multipoint connection (hereinafter referred to as MMC) is used.

Further, since the collaborative work support system needs to transmit a plurality of types of data, system control information, text data, video information, etc., it becomes necessary to set a plurality of MMCs according to the type of data. .

Conventionally, when a new computer is added to such a collaborative work support system, the MM set is set.
There is a problem that the procedure becomes complicated because it is necessary to know the C, request subscription to each MMC, and change the settings separately.

Furthermore, in a conventional communication network such as Ethernet, each user can obtain information about processes and computers on the network.
However, information about processes and the like is displayed by an identifier represented by a number given to the computer for management.
For this reason, when the user wants to communicate with a certain process, it is difficult to specify which process is currently the process that he / she wants to communicate with.

For example, in the case of a conference support system that supports a conference held by a plurality of people, which has been actively researched and developed in recent years, when a plurality of conferences are in progress on the network, the conference application has each conference. The communication connection is set between the applications, and the data used in the conference is exchanged using the communication connection.

If a conference has already started and later wants to join the conference, the user must select the conference in which he / she should join. However, since only the identifier of the communication connection can be obtained as the information for selecting the conference, it is difficult to specify the conference to be selected.

In this case, a user who later participates in the conference can issue a connection request by being told the identifier of the communication connection, but since the identifier of the communication connection is not fixed, the conference is held. The communication connection identifier changes each time.

Therefore, it is difficult to accommodate a user who will participate in the conference later by teaching the identifier of the communication connection in advance.

On the other hand, even if there is a case in which it is not desired to disclose the existence of the communication connection in which a certain process is running to another person, the user cannot specify the confidentiality of the process. I had no choice but to make it public.

For example, in a conference support system, in order to distinguish between a plurality of conferences, it is conceivable that the user inputs a conference name such as a budget meeting and the conference is distinguished.

Such a conference name is usually a name that reflects the contents of the conference. This is because if the name of the meeting is not reflected, it will be difficult to know what the desired meeting record is when the meeting record is used later.

However, if there is a case in which it is not desired to know that a conference is being held, or where it is not desirable to show information such as the existence of the conference itself and who is participating in the conference, under the present circumstances, the conference name Users who are not related to the conference can also see the information of the conference participants.

In the conference support system, there are cases where it is desired to limit the number of people who can participate in the conference, but until now, this has been dealt with by registering the members of the conference in advance. However, with this method, it was not possible to dynamically limit the conference members.

[0016]

As described above, when a communication terminal newly attempts to participate in a collaborative work support system that has conventionally used a plurality of MMCs,
You have to apply for each MMC.

Therefore, the first invention provides a communication control device for simplifying the procedure for joining the MMC.

Further, as described above, in the conventional conference support system, a user who later joins the conference can issue a connection request by being informed of the communication connection identifier, but the communication connection identifier is fixed. The communication connection identifier changes every time a conference is held. Therefore, it is difficult to accommodate the users who will participate in the conference later by teaching the identifier of the communication connection in advance.

Therefore, a second aspect of the present invention provides a communication control device that allows a user to add identification information to a communication connection so that the user can easily select and search for the communication connection.

[0020]

A communication control device according to a first aspect of the present invention is a group setting means for connecting a plurality of communication terminals that desire communication with one's own communication terminal and setting these communication terminals as one group. And multipoint-to-multipoint connection setting means for putting all communication terminals belonging to the group set by the group setting means into mutually communicable state.

The communication control apparatus of the second invention connects a plurality of communication terminals that desire communication with its own communication terminal and sets the communication terminals as a group, and this group setting means. Connection identifier storing means for storing a connection identifier for identifying the group set by the above, identification information inputting means for inputting identification information for each connection identifier stored in this connection identifier storing means, and inputting to this identification information inputting means Identification information exchange means for exchanging the identified identification information with other communication terminals in the group, identification information storage means for storing the identification information exchanged by the identification information exchange means, and identification capable of requesting identification information for each connection identifier The information requesting means and the identification information requested by the identification information requesting means are referred to as the identification information. It is those from pay means the more a display means for displaying to each call connection identifier.

[0022]

[Operation] The communication control device of the first invention will be described.

The group setting means connects a plurality of communication terminals desiring to communicate with its own communication terminal and sets these communication terminals as one group.

The multipoint-to-multipoint connection setting means puts all communication terminals belonging to the group set by the group setting means into a mutually communicable state.

As a result, communication management can be performed within the MMC connecting the communication terminals belonging to the group.

The communication control device of the second invention will be described.

The group setting means connects a plurality of communication terminals desiring to communicate with its own communication terminal and sets these communication terminals as one group.

The connection identifier storage means stores the connection identifier for identifying the group set by the group setting means.

The identification information input means and the identification information are input for each connection identifier stored in the connection identifier storage means.

The identification information exchange means exchanges the identification information input to the identification information input means with other communication terminals in the group.

The identification information storage means stores the identification information exchanged by the identification information exchange means.

The identification information requesting means requests identification information for each connection identifier.

The display means displays the identification information requested by the identification information request means from the identification information storage means for each calling connection identifier.

Thus, when the user gives the identification information to the group, the communication terminal registers the correspondence between the identification information and the identifier of the communication connection, and, for example, as the communication connection information when the user requests the display of the communication connection information. Display the registered identification information.

[0035]

EXAMPLES first inventions will be described with reference to FIGS an embodiment of the first invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the communication control device 100 of this embodiment.

The user information processing section 101 is a section for executing a so-called application, and the communication control section 102.
Is a part that performs communication control, and is the wireless transmission / reception unit 103.
Is a unit that performs various processes for wirelessly transmitting and receiving various control information generated by the communication control unit 102 and transmission information generated by the user information processing unit 101.

According to this communication control device 100, a plurality of MMCs for mutually transmitting and receiving data can be set and communicated between a plurality of portable information devices brought in at an arbitrary place.

The transmission / reception state of the communication control device 100 will be described below.

The communication terminal identification information generator 11 periodically generates its own communication terminal identification signal. This communication terminal identification signal is sent to the control channel modulator 21.

The user information processing unit 101 outputs the transmission user information to the destination header generation unit 12.

At the same time, the user information processing section 101
A group setting command for instructing to set a group for transmitting the transmission user information is output to the group setting unit 13.

At the same time, the user information processing section 101
The connection specification information that specifies the communication connection for transmitting the transmission user information is output to the connection setting unit 19.

The connection setting section 19 transmits the connection identification information to the destination header generating section 12 based on the accepted connection specifying information, and outputs the group specifying information to the group setting section 13.

Based on the received group setting command and group designation information, the group setting unit 13 outputs the identification information of the partner communication terminal belonging to the group to the destination header generating unit 12
Output to.

The destination header generation unit 12 adds the identification information of the partner communication terminal to the transmission user information as a destination header,
It is output to the information channel modulator 22.

The information channel for transmitting the information signal and the control channel for transmitting the control signal are separated by, for example, frequency division. Then, the information channel modulator 22 and the control channel modulator 21 perform modulation according to each channel.

The signals output from the information channel modulation section 22 and the control channel modulation section 21 are multiplexed by the multiplexing circuit 23, frequency-converted to a high frequency by the RF modulator 24, and converted to appropriate power by the power amplifier 25. After being amplified, it is broadcast from the antenna 31 via the duplexer 30.

On the other hand, various information signals received by the antenna 31 from other stations are transmitted via the demultiplexer 30 to the RF demodulator 2.
After being converted from a high frequency to a baseband band at 6, the signal is separated by a separation circuit 27, guided to a control channel demodulation unit 28 and an information channel demodulation unit 29, and demodulated into reception control information and reception user information, respectively.

In the received user information signal output from the information channel demodulation section 29, the destination header added to the user information is inspected by the destination header identification section 17, and whether or not the received user information is addressed to its own station. Are identified. When addressed to its own station, the received user information is received by the user information processing unit 10
Output to 1 and discard if not addressed to its own station.

Further, the user information is output from the destination header identifying section 17 to the connection identifying section 18.

The connection identification unit 18 inspects the destination header added to the user information and outputs the identification information of the connection to which the user information belongs to the user information processing unit 101.

As described above, the communication terminal identification number of the own station is transmitted and the user information is transmitted / received between the communication terminals having the group setting.

Group setting is performed as follows.

As described above, the communication terminal identification information generator 1
The communication terminal identification signal generated from No. 1 is periodically transmitted from the antenna 31 via the wireless transmission / reception unit 103.

On the other hand, the communication terminal identification information transmitted from another communication terminal is converted into a baseband signal via the antenna 31, the demultiplexer 30, and the reduction unit 26. afterwards,
The control circuit signal is separated by the separation circuit 27 and is guided to the control channel demodulation unit 28.

From the control channel demodulation section 28, the communication terminal identification information obtained by performing the predetermined demodulation is output to the communicable terminal identification section 14.

The communicable terminal identifying unit 14 can communicate with this communication terminal when the received control information includes the communication terminal identifying information and when this signal is repeatedly received within a certain period of time. It is determined that there is, and the communication terminal identification information is output to the comparison circuit 16 and the communicable terminal storage unit 15.

The comparison circuit 16 includes a communicable terminal identifying unit 14
The communication terminal identification information stored in the communicable terminal storage unit 15 is compared with the signal input from the communication terminal, and a control signal is output to the communicable terminal storage unit 15 according to the comparison result.
If the comparison results match, the communicable terminal storage unit 1
Since it is not necessary to rewrite the contents of 5, the control signal is not output from the comparison circuit 16 to the communicable terminal storage unit 15. On the other hand, when the comparison result does not match, the control signal is output so as to update the content of the communicable terminal storage unit 15.

As described above, when the portable information device equipped with the communication control device 100 comes close to and the radio waves transmitted to each other are received with the electric field strength above a certain level,
The communication terminal identification information transmitted periodically is received, and the communication terminal identification information is newly added to the communicable terminal storage unit 15.

The contents of the communicable terminal storage unit 15 are also guided to the user information processing unit 101 and the group setting unit 13.

The user information processing section 101 selects one or more parties with whom communication is desired from the communicable terminals indicated by the communicable terminal storage section 15, and sends a setting command signal to the group setting section 13. Output.

In accordance with the setting command signal, the group setting unit 13 creates and holds a correspondence table between the communication terminal identification information indicated by the communicable terminal storage unit 15 and the set group.

In this way, a logical communication link is established between the communication terminals belonging to the group. Note that, here, the logical communication link is a communication terminal that can communicate with each other, and the communication terminals that want to communicate are set to one group, and the communication terminals in this group are set to the user. Refers to connecting to a state in which communication is possible without any special operation or processing.

The communicable terminal identifying unit 14 also observes whether or not the identification information of the communication terminal stored in the communicable terminal storage unit 15 is periodically transmitted, and the communication terminal identifying unit 14 completely identifies the communication terminal within a predetermined time. When the information is no longer received, it is determined that communication is impossible, and the terminal is removed from the communicable terminal storage unit 15. The communication terminal identification information of the terminal that is determined to be incommunicable is also sent to the group setting unit 13, and if necessary, the communication terminal identification information of the terminal is also obtained from the correspondence table of the group and communication terminal identification information held by the group setting unit 13. The information is deleted.

When the group is set, the connection is set next.

The user information processing section 101 selects a group set by the group setting section 13 and sends a connection setting command signal to the connection setting section 19.

The connection setting section 19 creates and holds a correspondence table of group identification information and connection identification information according to this connection setting instruction.

When the user information processing unit 101 transmits data, as described above, the transmission user information is output to the destination header generation unit 12, and a signal designating a group indicating the transmission partner is sent to the group setting unit 13 as well. And the user information is sent to only the communication terminals belonging to the group in a broadcast manner.

FIG. 2 is a structural example of a group management table held by the group setting unit 13.

The group management table comprises a group identifier field, the number of communication terminals composing the group, and the number of communication terminal identifier fields stored in the number of communication terminals field.

The group setting unit 13 holds a table composed of a communication terminal identifier and a list of the group identifiers of the groups to which the communication terminal having the identifier belongs, so that the communication terminals for each group are stored in the group management table. Since the group to which the communication terminal belongs can be known without checking whether the communication terminal is included or not, it is possible to improve the efficiency of the processing regarding the communication terminal determined to be incommunicable.

FIG. 3 shows the configuration 1 of the connection management table held by the connection setting unit 19.

The connection management table is composed of a group identification information field, a connection number field indicating the number of MMCs set in the group designated by the group identification information field, and a connection identifier field.

First, the procedure for setting a connection will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5 in which the connection setting communication terminal 1-2 communicates with N-2 communication terminals 1-3 to 1-N. An example of setting a connection will be described.

The communication terminal 1-2 includes the communication terminals 1-3 to
A connection setting request message is transmitted to each N communication terminal. The connection setting request message includes a list of communication terminals (communication terminals 1-3 to N in this case) and communication terminals 1 that are trying to set a connection in the meantime.
-2 describes the initial sequence number given to the data transmitted first.

The communication terminal that has received the connection setting request message sends a connection setting response message to the communication terminal 1-2 if it agrees with the connection setting, and sends a connection setting rejection message to the communication terminal 1-2 if it does not agree with the connection setting. The connection setting response message describes the initial sequence number given to the first data transmitted by the communication terminal transmitting the connection setting response message.

The communication terminal 1-2 includes the communication terminals 1-3 to
When receiving the connection setting response message from 9, 11-N and receiving the connection setting rejection message from the communication terminal 1-10, the connection setting message is transmitted to the communication terminal which has received the connection setting response message. The connection setting message includes a list of communication terminals that have agreed to set a connection and an initial sequence number of each communication terminal included in the list.

The communication terminal receiving the connection setting message is informed of the connection setting confirmation message by the connection setting message in order to notify the other terminals that the connection setting message has been received. Send to communication terminal.

When the connection setting confirmation message is received from all the required communication terminals, the connection setting procedure ends, and the logical communication connection is set.

When the connection is set up, data transmission can be started.

When the connection is set, a table holding a transmission buffer, a transmission sequence number, a confirmation sequence number for each partner communication terminal and a reception sequence number as shown in FIG. 6 is prepared.

The transmission sequence number is the sequence number of the data transmitted from the own communication terminal. The transmission sequence number is set to the sequence number described in the connection setting request message or the connection setting response message sent from the local communication terminal.When sending data, the transmission sequence number is added and sent, and the transmission sequence number is updated. It

The confirmation sequence number is the sequence number of the data whose reception is confirmed by the communication terminal. All confirmation sequence numbers are initially set to a value one less than the number written in the connection setting request message or the connection setting response message, and are updated to that value when the reception confirmation is received.

The reception sequence number is the sequence number of the data received from the communication terminal and the reception confirmation is returned. The reception sequence number is initially set to the sequence number described in the reception connection setting response message for the communication terminal that started the connection setting, and to the sequence number described in the connection setting message for other terminals. Is set. Only when the data having the sequence number equal to the reception sequence number is received, the data is regarded as correct and accepted, and the reception confirmation is notified to the sender.

The transmission buffer is a buffer for storing the transmitted data until the reception confirmation is obtained from all the communication terminals. The transmission buffer retransmits the data when reception confirmation is not obtained within a certain time after transmission.

With reference to the sequence diagram shown in FIG. 7, a specific procedure when a communication terminal newly joins a group in which the communication terminal already exists will be described by taking the situation shown in FIG. 4 as an example.

In FIG. 4, N-1 communication terminals 1-2 to 1-N form a group 2.

Further, it is assumed that M MMCs of connections 1 to M are set in the group 2.

Then, the case where the terminal 1-1 joins will be described.

User information processing unit 101 of terminal 1-1
When receiving the request for joining the group from the group 1-1, the group setting unit 13 of the terminal 1-1 makes the terminals 1-2 to N belonging to the group 2
A group join request message to the.

When the terminals 1-2 to N receive the group join request message, the group setting unit 13 of the terminals 1-2 to N receives the MMC of the group requested to join from the connection setting unit 19. The list of connection identifiers is read out, and the group join acceptance message in which this list is written is returned to the terminal 1-1.

Upon receiving the group join acceptance message, the terminal 1-1 creates a new group item in the group management table of the group setting unit 13 and sends the received connection identifier list to the connection setting unit 19.

Upon receiving the list of connection identifiers, the connection setting unit 19 sends a connection join message to the terminal 1 in order to join these connections.
-2 to N. In the connection join message, the terminal 1-1 writes the initial value of the transmission sequence number used for each MMC and transmits it.

When the terminals 1-2 to N receive the connection join message, they send a connection join response message. In the connection join response message transmitted by the terminal 1-i, a sequence number for the terminal 1-i to start transmitting to the terminal 1-1 for each connection is set and transmitted (however, i = 2 to N).

Connection setting unit 19 of terminal 1-1
When receiving the connection joining response message from all of the terminals 1-1 to N, the terminal sends a connection joining confirmation message, and the group joining procedure ends.

In this sequence diagram, the sequence numbers of all the connections are negotiated at the same time.
It is also possible to negotiate the sequence number for each connection. In that case, it is necessary to transmit a connection join message, a connection join response message, and a connection join confirmation message for each connection.

When the connection setting is completed, the data exchange is started.

When transmitting data, a transmission sequence number for transmission and a reception confirmation sequence number for data received from another terminal in the group are transmitted together with the data for each terminal.

If the reception confirmation regarding the data transmitted within the fixed time cannot be obtained from all the terminals, it is retransmitted.

If data is received from another terminal and data having a transmission sequence number older than the currently held reception confirmation sequence number is received, it is regarded as an error and discarded.

When a new group is joined,
In order to exchange data, the terminal 1-1 receives the connection join response message and then starts data transmission using the transmission sequence number sent in the connection join message.

On the other hand, the terminals 1-2 to N which have already formed the group 2 transmit the data having the transmission sequence number after the transmission sequence number notified by the connection joining response message until receiving the connection joining confirmation message. I have to wait to do it.

Data having a transmission sequence number older than the transmission sequence number notified by the connection join response message can be transmitted regardless of the reception of the connection join confirmation message.

However, since the terminal 1-1 regards a message older than the transmission sequence number notified by the connection join response message as an error, the data normally received by the terminal 1-1 is notified by the connection join response message. Only data having a transmission sequence number after the transmission sequence number is guaranteed.

Next, the procedure when the terminal leaves the group will be described by taking the case where the terminal 1-1 in FIG. 4 leaves as in the case of joining the group.

The sequence diagram is shown in FIG.

Group setting unit 1 in terminal 1-1
When receiving a request to leave the group 2 from the user information processing unit 101, the group 3 receives the reception confirmation for the data transmitted by the terminal 1-1 until then, and then the group setting unit 13
Sends a group leave request message to the other terminals 1-2 to N of group 2.

The terminals 1-2 to N that have received the group leave request message are MMCs that connect the group 2.
For all of the above, the data received from the user information processing unit 101 until then is transmitted, and after receiving the reception confirmation, the group withdrawal response message is transmitted to the terminal 1-1.

When the terminal 1-1 receives the group leave response message from all of the terminals 1-2 to N, it notifies the connection setting unit 19 and deletes the connection of this group from the connection management table.

Further, after transmitting the group leaving confirmation message, the item relating to this group is deleted from the group management table of the group setting unit 13.

Group setting unit 13 of terminals 1-1 to N
Then, when the group leaving confirmation message is received, the communication terminal identifier of the terminal 1-1 is deleted from the group management table, and the process regarding leaving the group ends.

In this way, the management of the terminal group and the management of the MMC connecting the group are separated, and all MMCs connecting the group by joining the group are separated.
By connecting to the individual MM
It is not necessary to connect to C, and the procedure is simplified.

Second Development Hereinafter, one embodiment of the second invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 to 17.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a communication terminal that implements the communication control device according to this embodiment.

According to this communication control device, it is possible to easily make communication between a plurality of information devices simply by bringing the portable information device at an arbitrary place.

The communication terminal includes a user processing unit 101 for executing a so-called application, a communication control unit 102 for performing communication control, various control information generated by the communication control unit 102, and transmission information generated by the user information processing unit 101. The wireless transmission / reception unit 103 performs various processes for wirelessly transmitting / receiving.

The communication control unit 102 and the wireless transmission / reception unit 103 are basically the same as those of the first embodiment, but the connection setting unit 18 and the connection identifying unit 1 are used.
The difference is that it does not have 9. Therefore, due to this difference, the group setting command and the group designation information are input from the user information processing unit 101 to the group setting unit 13.
In addition, the group setting unit 13 causes the user information processing unit 101
In accordance with the setting command signal from the communicable terminal storage unit 1
When creating a correspondence table between the communication terminal identification information shown in 5 and the group to be set, a connection identifier is set and associated with each group. That is, the connection identifier set for each group identifies the communication connection.

The operation of the user information processing section 101 will be described below.

The user information processing unit 101 has a communication connection information management unit 70, and the information managed by this communication connection information management unit 70 includes a communication connection management table 71 (see FIG. 13) and a communication connection attribute management table. 72 (see FIG. 14) and the communication connection information management table 73 (see FIG. 15).

As the information of the communication connection management table 71, the receiving user information of the communication terminal having the connection request detected by the communication control unit 102 is input to the control unit 60, and the control unit 6
It is determined whether or not to connect to the specified connection with 0, and is updated when it is determined to connect.

A case where the user sets the attribute information and the identification information indicating the confidentiality for each communication connection will be described below. In the case of this explanation, in the initial state,
When the attribute information and the identification information are set, these information cannot be changed in other communication terminals.

The user inputs, for each communication connection, the attribute indicating the confidentiality of the communication connection from the input unit 50.

The control unit 60 receives the attribute representing this confidentiality as an input, and receives the communication connection information management unit 7
Communication connection attribute management table 7 managed by 0
Register in 2. Here, it is assumed that the attribute indicating the confidentiality of the communication connection has at least a display attribute indicating whether the communication connection can be displayed and a participation attribute indicating whether the communication connection is possible.

However, the attribute information indicating confidentiality is not limited to these two attributes, and may include other attributes.

The control unit 60 requests the communication control unit 101 to perform transmission processing in order to transmit the attribute to all other communication terminals connected to the communication connection.

The user inputs the content, user name, and identification information for each communication connection from the input unit 50.

The control unit 60 receives the contents, the user name, and the identification information from the input unit 50, and registers them in the communication connection information management table 73 managed by the communication connection identification information management unit 70.

The control unit 60 transmits the input content, user name, and identification information to all the other communication terminals connected to the communication connection.
Request transmission processing to 1.

When the control unit 60 receives from the communication control unit 102 the reception user information of the communication terminal that has the communication connection connection request detected by the communication control unit 102, the control unit 60 determines whether or not the connection can be established. Whether connection is possible or not is performed by referring to the connection attribute management table 72.

(A) In the case of a connection to which the participation attribute that allows connection is given, a connection permission command is issued.
Send to 2.

When the communication control unit 102 notifies that the connection connection is completed, the display unit 80 displays information about the newly connected communication terminal in order to display to the user that the new communication terminal is connected. Enter and give instructions for display. The information about the newly connected communication terminal is, for example, the name of the user who is using the communication terminal or the name of the connected communication connection.

(B) If the participation attribute of the connection attribute management table 72 is not connectable, the information regarding the communication terminal which rejected the connection connection is sent to the display section 80 and a display instruction is given.

When there is a request from the user to display the connection status, the control unit 60 receives the display request from the input unit 50 and determines whether or not to display the connection information.

Display is performed according to the display attributes of the connection attribute management table 72 managed by the connection information management unit 70. That is, only the information about the connections whose attributes of the connection attribute management table 72 can be displayed is displayed to the user.

The operation of the communication terminal configured as above will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart for explaining an operation example of the control unit 60 when the user gives an instruction to display the information regarding the communication connection.

An example will be described in which a plurality of conference support applications each use a communication connection. Here, the information regarding the communication connection includes the communication connection currently existing on the network, that is, the conference name, the user names participating in the conference, and the identification information of the conference.

The control unit 60 first refers to the communication connection management table 71 to check whether there is a communication connection for the conference (STEP 201).

When the communication connection does not exist, the user is notified that it does not exist (STEP 20.
6).

When there is a communication connection, it is determined whether or not the user can be notified of the information regarding the communication connection by referring to the communication connection attribute management table 72 (STEP 202). If the display attribute is valid, the process proceeds to STEP 203, and if the display attribute is not possible, the process proceeds to STEP 205.

Since it is determined that the communication may be notified, the communication connection information management table 73 is referred to in order to check whether the communication connection is provided with the identification information (STEP 203).

After that, the user is notified of the information regarding the communication connection as shown in FIG. 16 (STEP 20).
4).

The contents displayed at this time vary depending on the display attributes and the identification information. For example, if all display attribute values are displayable, the communication connection information management table 7
Display all 3 contents. If only the identification information can be displayed in the display attribute value, only the identification information is displayed. If the display attribute value is not displayable, nothing is displayed.

The above processing is performed for all communication connections (STEP 205).

FIG. 10 shows an example of operation when displaying all communication connections in a meeting.
It is also possible to display information about a particular communication connection. In that case, the user may input the communication connection identifier or the identification information.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart for explaining an example of the operation for judging whether the communication connection can be connected or not when the communication connection connection request from the communication terminal is input from the communication processing unit 102 to the control unit 60.

The control unit 60 first refers to the communication connection attribute management table 72, and determines whether the participation attributes stored in the communication connection attribute management table 72 are connectable (STEP 301).

If the participation attribute is "connection disabled", the connection of the detected communication terminal is rejected without updating the communication connection management table 71 (STEP 306).

If the participation attribute is connectable, the communication connection information management table 73 is referred to, and the identification information of the communication terminal that has detected the connection request and the identification information of the communication connection information management table 73 match. Is determined (STEP 302).

If the two pieces of identification information do not match, the connection of the communication terminal is rejected (STEP 306).

If the two pieces of identification information match, the communication connection management table 71 is updated (STEP 30
3) Then, the connection permission of the communication control unit 102 is instructed to connect the communication terminal to the communication connection (S).
TEP 304).

Further, the user is notified that a new communication terminal is connected to the communication connection as shown in FIG. 17 (STEP 305).

FIG. 12 is a flowchart of an operation example of the control unit 60 when selecting a communication connection to be connected. The identification information of the communication connection to be connected is input section 5
Input from 0.

The control unit 60 receives the connection request for the communication connection selected by the user and the identification information of the communication connection from the input unit 50. The control unit 60 first checks from the communication connection information management table 73 whether or not there is a communication connection having the identification information of the selected communication connection (STEP 40).
1).

When the selected communication connection does not exist, the user is notified that the selected communication connection does not exist (STEP 405).

If the selected communication connection exists, the communication connection identifier corresponding to the selected communication connection is acquired from the communication connection information management table 73 (STEP 402).

Using the communication connection identifier obtained in STEP 402, the communication control unit 101 is requested to make a connection request (STEP 403).

Communication connection When connection is completed,
The communication control unit 101 notifies the control unit 60 to that effect,
The control unit 60 determines whether the connection has been completed normally or could not be established for some reason (STEP 4).
04).

When completed normally, the user is notified that the communication connection has been established (STEP 40).
5).

If the connection cannot be established, the user is notified that the connection has failed (STEP 405).

Note that when the user sets attribute information and identification information for each communication connection,
In the case of the above description, when the attribute information and the identification information are set in the initial state, these information cannot be changed in other communication terminals, but instead, the attribute information and the identification information can be arbitrarily changed. In this case, the old attribute information and the identification information may be updated with new information.

[0163]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the invention, communication management can be performed within the MMC connecting the communication terminals belonging to the group. For example, when a new communication terminal joins a group or leaves a group to which it belongs, the procedure for changing the connection of each connection becomes unnecessary, and the procedure that the communication terminal has to do is simple. Be converted.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to display the communication connection, which has been difficult to understand in the past, in an easy-to-understand manner for the user and reduce the burden on the user. Also,
By providing the confidentiality attribute and the identification information to the communication connection, the communication connection that the user does not want others to know can be hidden, and the confidentiality is enhanced. In addition, an attribute related to a communication connection can be given, and the user can limit the connection related to the communication connection, which improves confidentiality.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communication control device according to an embodiment of the first invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration example of a group management table.

FIG. 3 is a configuration example of a connection management table.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a group creation status.

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram when the communication terminals 1-3 to 9 and 11 to N agree with the setting of the connection and only 1 to 10 do not agree.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a configuration of a table that holds a transmission buffer, a transmission sequence number, a confirmation sequence number for each partner communication terminal, and a reception sequence number.

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram of group joining.

FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram of leaving a group.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a communication control device according to an embodiment of the second invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart when displaying communication connection information.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart when a communication terminal participation request is detected.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart when a connection is selected.

FIG. 13 is a configuration example of a communication connection management table.

FIG. 14 is a configuration example of a communication connection attribute management table.

FIG. 15 is a configuration example of a communication connection information management table.

FIG. 16 is a display example of communication connection information.

FIG. 17 is a display example when a new communication terminal is connected.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 user information processing unit 102 communication control unit 103 wireless transmission / reception unit 11 communication terminal identification number generation unit 12 destination header generation unit 13 group setting unit 14 communicable terminal identification unit 15 communicable terminal storage unit 16 comparison circuit 17 destination header identification unit 18 Connection identification unit 19 Connection setting unit 21 Control channel modulation unit 22 Information Chanel modulation unit 23 Multiplexing circuit 24 RF modulation unit 26 RF demodulation unit 28 Control channel demodulation unit 29 Information channel demodulation unit 31 Antenna 50 Input unit 60 Control unit 70 Communication connection Information management unit 71 Communication connection management table 72 Communication connection attribute management table 73 Communication connection information management table 80 Display unit

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A group setting means for connecting a plurality of communication terminals wishing to communicate with one's own communication terminal and setting these communication terminals as one group, and all belonging to the group set by this group setting means. And a multipoint-to-multipoint connection setting means for bringing the communication terminals of (1) to (2) into a mutually communicable state. 2. A communication terminal joining means for joining one or a plurality of communication terminals to the group set by the group setting means, wherein the multipoint-to-multipoint connection setting means is provided by the communication terminal joining means. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein all communication terminals belonging to the new group, including the communication terminals that have joined, are set in a mutually communicable state. 3. A communication terminal leaving means for leaving one or a plurality of communication terminals from the group set by the group setting means, wherein the multipoint-to-multipoint connection setting means is provided by the communication terminal leaving means. 2. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein all communication terminals belonging to a new group except for the withdrawn communication terminal are put into a mutually communicable state. 4. The group setting means can set a plurality of groups, and the multipoint-to-multipoint connection setting means puts the plurality of groups set by the group setting means into a mutually communicable state. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein: 5. A plurality of communication terminals desiring to communicate with one's own communication terminal are connected, these communication terminals are set as one group, and all communication terminals belonging to the set group are mutually communicated. The communication control method according to claim 1, wherein the communication control method is enabled. 6. A group setting means for connecting a plurality of communication terminals wishing to communicate with one's own communication terminal and setting these communication terminals as one group, and a group set by the group setting means is identified. A connection identifier storing means for storing a connection identifier, an identification information inputting means for inputting identification information for each connection identifier stored in this connection identifier storing means, and an identification information input to this identification information inputting means Identification information exchange means for exchanging with another communication terminal, identification information storage means for storing the identification information exchanged by the identification information exchange means, identification information request means for requesting identification information for each connection identifier, and this identification information The identification information requested by the requesting means,
A communication control device comprising display means for displaying each call connection identifier from the identification information storage means. 7. Attribute information input means for inputting an attribute representing confidentiality for each connection identifier stored in the connection identifier storage means, and attribute for storing the attribute for each connection identifier input by the attribute information input means. 7. The communication according to claim 6, comprising storage means and determination means for determining the control state of the group corresponding to the connection identifier based on the attribute for each connection identifier stored in the attribute storage means. Control device. 8. The attribute indicating the confidentiality is a display attribute indicating whether or not the identification information can be displayed, and the determination means is based on the display attribute for each connection identifier stored in the attribute storage means. , When the display attribute is valid, the identification information requested by the identification information requesting unit is displayed on the display unit, and when the display attribute is not valid, the identification information requested by the identification information requesting unit is The communication control device according to claim 7, wherein the communication means is not displayed on the display means. 9. The attribute indicating the confidentiality is a participation attribute indicating whether participation in a group is possible or not, and the determination means is based on the participation attribute for each connection identifier stored in the attribute storage means. , When the participation attribute is allowed, the group setting means sets the communication terminal having the connection request as the communication terminal in the group, and when the participation attribute is not allowed, the communication terminal having the connection request is set to the group. 8. The communication control device according to claim 7, wherein the means is not set as the communication terminal in the group. 10. A plurality of communication terminals desiring to communicate with one's own communication terminal are connected to form a group of these communication terminals, and a connection identifier for identifying the set group is stored. The user is allowed to input identification information for each connection identifier, the input identification information is exchanged with other communication terminals in the group, the exchanged identification information is stored, and the identification information for each connection identifier is stored. A communication control method characterized in that the stored identification information is displayed for each calling connection identifier when requested.