Communication system and communication method

• US 20040001480A1
• Filed: 08/30/2002
• Published: 01/01/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Shiga, Kenta, Yumoto, Kazuma, Hoshi, Toru, Tanigawa, Keiko
• Granted Patent: US 7,233,589 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/2044 Group features, e.g. closed user group
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/4536 Voicemail combined with text-based messaging
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems

Abstract

The usage of communication systems is improved. An IM server 4 manages presence information regarding each of IM clients and usable media and user information such that each of the IM clients can obtain these kinds of information. In order to perform text chatting, the IM server 4 manages a connection between each of the IM clients participating the chat and the IM server 4, merges text from each of the participating IM clients and distributes the result to each of the participating IM clients. In order to perform voice chatting, an AP server 5 manages a connection between each of the IM clients participating the chat and an MD server 6, mixes voice from each of the participating IM clients except for a focused IM client and distributes the result to the focused participating IM clients. This processing is performed for each of the participating IM clients.

Claims

1. A communication system for implementing a chat between/among Instant Messaging (IM) clients, comprising:

an IM presence management server which manages presence information indicating a state of each of the IM clients;

a VoIP communication connection management server which manages a connection for voice chatting using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol); and

a media server which implements multi-party voice communication by mixing voice data,

wherein, the IM presence management server;

manages, as to each of the IM clients, the presence information, information regarding media user information of the IM client;

provides, in accordance with an instruction from one of the IM clients, said one IM client with the presence information, the information regarding media usable for chatting and user information of each of the IM clients which are set as buddies of said one IM client;

manages, in accordance with information of each of IM clients (called as text participating clients) participating in a text chat, which is notified from one of the IM clients, a connection between/among the text participating clients and the IM presence management server; and

merges text data sent from each of the text participating clients to distribute the result to each of the text participating clients,

wherein, the VoIP communication connection management server manages a connection between/among each of the voice participating clients and the media server in accordance with information of each of the IM clients (called as voice participating clients) participating in a voice chat, which is notified from one of the IM client or the IM presence management server, and

wherein, the media server performs, as to each of the voice participating clients, processing for mixing voice data sent from the voice participating clients except for the client in question (called as a focused client) to distribute the result to the focused client.

2. A communication system according to claim 1,

wherein the media server obtains the information regarding the voice participating clients from the VoIP communication connection management server.

3. A communication system according to claim 1,

wherein the IM presence management server determines each of the voice participating clients that will participate in a voice chat on the basis of the presence information and the information regarding media usable for chatting, regarding each of the IM clients set as a buddy of the IM client which calls for the voice chat, to notifie the information regarding each of the voice participating clients to the VoIP communication connection management server.

4. A communication system according to claim 1 ,

wherein the IM presence management server stops, in accordance with an instruction from one of the text participating clients, management of a connection to said one and merge processing of text data sent from said one with text data sent from the other text participating clients.

5. A communication system according to claim 1,

wherein the VoIP communication connection management server stops, in accordance with an instruction from one of the voice participating clients, management of a connection to said one, and

wherein the media server stops mix processing of voice data sent from said one, whose connection management is stopped by the VoIP communication connection management server with voice data from the other voice participating clients and stops processing for dealing said one as the focused client.

6. An IM presence management server used for the communication system according to claim 1.

7. A VoIP communication connection management server used for the communication system according to claim 1.

8. A media server used for the communication system according to claim 1.

9. A computer readable program, which constructs the IM presence management server used for the communication system according to claim 1 on a computer.

10. A computer readable program, which constructs the VoIP communication connection management server used for a communication system according to claim 1 on a computer system.

11. A computer readable program, which constructs the media server used for a communication system according to claim 1 on a computer system.

12. A communication method for implementing a chat between/among Instant Messaging (IM) clients by using:

an IM presence management server which manages presence information indicating a state of each of the IM clients;

a VoIP communication connection management server which manages a connection for voice chatting using VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol); and

a media server which implements multi-party voice communication by mixing voice data,

wherein, the IM presence management server performs processing of;

managing, as to each of the IM clients, the presence information, information regarding media (including text and voice) usable for chatting, and user information of the IM client;

providing, in accordance with an instruction from one of the IM clients, said one IM client with the presence information, the information regarding media usable for chatting and the user information of each of the IM clients which are set as buddies of said one IM client;

managing, in accordance with information of each of IM clients (called as text participating clients) participating in a text chat, which is notified from one of the IM clients, a connection between/among the text participating clients and the IM presence management server; and

merging text data sent from each of the text participating clients to distribute the result to each of the text participating clients,

wherein the VoIP communication connection management server performs processing of;

managing a connection between/among each of the voice participating clients and the media server in accordance with information of each of the IM clients (called as voice participating clients) participating in a voice chat, which is notified from one of the IM clients or the IM presence management server, and

wherein the media server performs processing of;

as to each of the voice participating clients, mixing voice data sent from the voice participating clients except for the client in question (called as a focused client) to distribute the result to the focused client.