Relay apparatus, system and method, and storage medium

• US 6,738,822 B2
• Filed: 09/28/1998
• Issued: 05/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Okazaki, Hiroshi, Tanaka, Kenichiro, Fukasawa, Toshihiko
• Primary Examiner(s): Jaroenchonwanit, Bunjob
• Application Number:
  US09/161,812
• Publication Number:
  US 20020091808A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,059 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/228, 709/227, 709/231, 709/232, 709/203, 709/204, 709/205, 345/740, 370/260, 370/261, 370/262, 370/263
• US Class Current: 709/231
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00127 Connection or combination of a still picture apparatus with another apparatus, e.g. for storage, processing or transmission of still picture signals or of information associated with a still picture
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00299 with a television transmission apparatus, e.g. a videophone, a teletext system or a digital television system
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/152 Multipoint control units therefor

Abstract

A system enables information transmission between a server which serves information by its own communication format and a client which receives service on a general network, with an efficient and simple structure. A conversion server 101 receives a video transmission request message from a client 103 in the HTTP protocol, the conversion server 101 converts the message into a message of a format of a server 102, and transmits the converted message to the server 102. Then, the conversion server 101 returns video data transferred from the server 102 to the client 103 in the HTTP protocol.

Claims

1. A relay apparatus for delivering video stream information from a server to a plurality of clients via a network, said apparatus comprising:

message reception means for receiving a video request message from a first client;

message interpretation means for interpreting a video request message received by said message reception means;

connection management means for managing connection with the first client;

video delivering means for delivering obtained video stream to the first client which has requested the video request;

information delivering means for delivering information interpreted by said message interpretation means to the server; and

a buffer unit for storing video stream information received from the server,

wherein said video delivering means delivers video stream information stored in said buffer unit to the first client without starting a new connection between the first client and the server in case that another connection between a second client different from the first client and the server has been established.

2. A relay apparatus for delivering video stream data from a server to clients via a network, comprising:

a connection management device adapted to establish a connection to a server in response to a request from a first client, and to deliver video stream data to the first client, and

a memory control device adapted to store the video stream data from the server in a memory,

wherein said connection management device delivers the video stream data stored in said memory to the first client without starting a new connection between the first client and the server, in case that a connection between a second client different from the first client and the server has been established.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the memory holds the latest video data as video stream data.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein video stream data is obtained by an image pickup apparatus connected to the server.

5. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a protocol between said relay apparatus and the clients is HTTP.

6. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said connection management device converts a first format of video stream data from the server to a second format for the clients.

7. A relaying method to deliver video stream data from a server to clients via a network, comprising:

establishing a connection between a first client and the server in response to a request from the first client, storing video stream data in a memory, and delivering the video stream data from the server to the first client, in case that a connection between a second client different from the first client and the server has not been established, and

delivering the video stream data which has been stored in said memory without starting a new connection between the first client and the server, in case that the connection between the second client and the server has been established.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the memory holds the latest video data as video stream data.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the video stream data is obtained by an image pickup apparatus connected to the server.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein a protocol between said relay apparatus and the clients is HTTP.

11. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the step of:

converting a first format of video stream data from the server to a second format for the clients.

12. A storage medium to store a computer program to execute a relaying method to deliver video stream data from a server to clients via a network, said computer program comprising the codes of:

establishing a connection between a first client and the server in response to a request from the first client, storing in a memory, and delivering video stream data from the server to the first client, in case that a connection between a second client different from the first client and the server has not been established, and

delivering video stream data which has been stored in the memory without starting a new connection between the first client and the server, in case that the connection between the second client and the server has been established.

13. The storage medium according to claim 12, wherein the memory holds the latest video data as video stream data.

14. The storage medium according to claim 12, wherein video stream data is obtained by an image pickup apparatus connected to the server.

15. The storage medium according to claim 12, wherein a protocol between said relay apparatus and the clients is HTTP.

16. The storage medium according to claim 12, further comprising the code of:

converting a first format of video stream data from the server to a second format for the clients.