Group Communication Method and Communication Terminal

• US 20100016006A1
• Filed: 03/29/2007
• Published: 01/21/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Original Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Inventors: Inagaki, Tomohiro
• Granted Patent: US 8,090,397 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/518
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/186 Processing of subscriber group data

Abstract

A group communication method in which a communication terminal not participating in the group communication can newly participate in the group communication even while the group communication is being carried out is realized. The group communication method has a personal information management step of managing personal information, a participation request transmission step, a group communication control step, and an other party updating step, in a case where participation intention in the group communication is received from another communication terminal to which no participation request has been transmitted in a state of “party not participating” in which at least one party among the plurality of terminals of the parties sent the participation requests does not participate in the group communication, deleting the party not participating in the group communication from a member list and registering the other party of the other communication terminal in the member list as a party for engaging in the group communication to thereby allow the other communication terminal to participate in the group communication.

Claims

1. A group communication method of communication terminals by which a plurality of communication terminals connected to a communication network including a communication server apparatus engage in group communication via the communication server apparatus, comprising:

a personal information management step of managing personal information for communication terminals of a plurality of communicating parties;

a participation request transmission step of registering a plurality of communication terminals for engaging in the group communication in a member list and transmitting participation requests for the group communication to the plurality of communication terminals when designating a plurality of communication terminals, to engage in the group communication based on the plurality of personal information and starting the group communication;

a group communication control step of performing processing for the group communication with communication terminals to which responds of participate with respect to the participation requests exist;

a participation intention reception step of receiving intention to participate in the group communication from another communication terminal to which no participation request has been transmitted, in a state of “

party not participating”

in which there is at least one communication terminal among the plurality of communication terminals sent the participation requests which will not participate in the group communication; and

an other party updating step of deleting any communication terminal not participating in the group communication from the member list when receiving the participation intentions in the group communication, in the participation intention reception step, and registering the other party of the other communication terminal in the member list as another party for engaging in group communication, to enable the other communication terminal to participate in the group communication.

2. A group communication method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the method

further comprises an in-progress group communication report step of responding with a notification of in-progress group communication to another communication terminal when receiving another request of communication from the other communication terminal during the group communication, and

the participation intention from the other communication terminal is received as an answer to the notification of the in-progress group communication.

3. A group communication method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

a re-transmission step of re-transmitting a participation request to any communication terminal which did not respond to the participation request, in the participation request transmission step; and

an in-progress communication response judgment step of judging presence/absence of a response with respect to a participation request including one re-transmitted during the group communication, and

in the in-progress communication response judgment step, a state judged as “

no response”

is judged as the state of “

party not participating”

in the other party updating step.

4. A group communication method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises an update notification step of notifying updating of the member list to the communication terminals participating in the group communication when the other party updating step is executed.

5. A group communication method as set forth in claim 1, wherein

the group communication has an upper limit in the number of communication terminals capable of participating in the group communication, and

the other party updating step is executed in a case where the number of communication terminals participating in the group communication has become the upper limit.

6. A group communication terminal having a communication part for engaging in group communication via a communication server apparatus with a plurality of communication terminals connected to a communication network including the communication server apparatus, comprising:

a personal information management part managing personal information of the plurality of communication terminals; and

a group communication control part registering a plurality of other parties engaging in the group communication in a member list and making the communication part transmit participation requests for group communication to the plurality of communication terminals when designating the plurality of communication terminals, to engage in the group communication based on the plurality of personal information and starting the group communication by the communication part,

wherein, when the communication part receives participation intention in the group communication from another communication terminal to which no participation request has been transmitted in the state of “

party not participating”

in which at least one communication terminal among the plurality of communication terminals sent the participation requests does not participate in the group communication, the group communication control part deletes the at least one party of communication from the member list and registers the other communication terminal as the communication terminal, to engage in the group communication in the member list and thereby allows the other communication terminal to participate in the group communication.

7. A group communication terminal as set forth in claim 6, wherein the group communication control part

responds with a notification of in-progress group communication to another communication terminal when receiving another request of communication from the other communication terminal during the group communication, and

receives participation intention as an answer to the notification of the in-progress group communication from the other communication terminal.

8. A group communication terminal as set forth in claim 6, wherein the group communication control part

re-transmits the participation request to any communication terminal not responding to the participation request in the participation request transmission step,

judges presence/absence of a response to the participation request including the request re-transmitted during the group communication, and

determines the state judged as “

no response”

in the in-progress communication response judgment processing as the state of “

party not participating”

in the other party updating step.

9. A group communication terminal as set forth in claim 6, wherein the group communication control part notifies the updating of the member list to the communication terminals participating in the group communication when the other party updating step is executed.

10. A group communication terminal as set forth in claim 6, wherein:

the number of communication terminals capable of participating in the group communication has an upper limit, and

the group communication control part executes the other party update processing in a case where the number of communication terminals participating in the group communication has become the upper limit.