Communication device, communication method, communication system, program, and computer-readable storage medium

• US 8,305,422 B2
• Filed: 11/07/2006
• Issued: 11/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Sharp Kabushiki Kaisha (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Doi, Katsuo, Toya, Tomoyuki, Shinkai, Makoto
• Primary Examiner(s): Woo, Stella
• Application Number:
  US12/092,809
• Publication Number:
  US 20090051755A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,191 Days
• Field of Search: 348/14.01, 348/14.02, 348/14.08, 379/93.21
• US Class Current: 348/14.08
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1059 End-user terminal functionalities specially adapted for real-time communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/765 intermediate
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q

Abstract

A communication device of the present invention which is realized as a video communication device (1) includes: a communication control section (2) for establishing communication connection with other communication device; a content receiving section (6) for obtaining content data from the outside; and a content transmission section (8) for specifying another communication device as a communication device, to which the obtained content data should be transmitted, if connection with said another communication device is established when the content receiving section (6) obtains the content data, so that it is possible to easily share the content data, obtained from the outside, with the communication counterpart device with which the communication connection has been established. This makes it possible to realize a communication device which can easily transmit the content data, obtained from the outside, to the communication counterpart device, that is, this makes it possible to realize a communication device which can easily share the content data, obtained from the outside.

Claims

1. A communication device, comprising:

call session establishing means for establishing call session with other communication device;

content data obtaining means for obtaining content data from the outside; and

content data transmission means for specifying another communication device as a communication device, to which the obtained content data should be transmitted, if call session with said another communication device is established when the content data obtaining means obtains the content data,

wherein, if call session with said another communication device is not established at a time when the content data obtaining means obtains the content data, the call session establishing means establishes call session with a predetermined communication device having been preset in advance.

2. The communication device as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

transmission initiation request transmission means for transmitting, to said another communication device, a transmission initiation request for requesting initiation of transmission of the content data; and

response receiving means for receiving a response to the transmission initiation request which response is transmitted from said another communication device upon receiving the transmission initiation request, wherein

the content data transmission means transmits the content data to said another communication device when the response received by the response receiving means is indicative of acceptance of the transmission initiation request.

3. The communication device as set forth in claim 2, further comprising content-data-obtaining-request receiving means for receiving a content-data-obtaining request which is transmitted from said another communication device having received the transmission initiation request and which requests the content data to be obtained, wherein

when the content-data-obtaining-request receiving means receives the content-data-obtaining request, the content data transmission means transmits the content data to said another communication device.

4. The communication device as set forth in claim 3, further comprising communication device determination means for determining whether or not the communication device having transmitted the response and the communication device having transmitted the content-data-obtaining request are identical to each other, wherein

when the communication device determination means determines that the communication device having transmitted the response and the communication device having transmitted the content-data-obtaining request are not identical to each other, the content data transmission means does not transmit the content data.

5. The communication device as set forth in claim 3, wherein:

the transmission initiation request includes time specifying information for specifying a time for the content-data-obtaining-request receiving means to receive the content-data-obtaining request, and

the content-data-obtaining-request receiving means does not receive the request at a time other than the specified time.

6. The communication device as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

transmission initiation request transmission means for transmitting, to said another communication device, a transmission initiation request for requesting initiation of transmission of the content data; and

response receiving means for receiving a response to the transmission initiation request which response is transmitted from said another communication device upon receiving the transmission initiation request, wherein

when the response received by the response receiving means requests transmission of the content data to a specific communication device, the content data transmission means regards the specific communication device as a communication device to which the obtained content data should be transmitted.

7. The communication device as set forth in claim 1, wherein when the content data obtaining means receives the content data via a specific interface having been preset in advance, the content data transmission means transmits the content data to said another communication device.

8. The communication device as set forth in claim 1, further comprising content data determination means for determining whether or not a type of the content data obtained by the content data obtaining means is identical to a specific type having been preset in advance, wherein

when the content data determination means determines that the type of the content data is identical to the specific type having been preset in advance, the content data transmission means transmits the content data to said another communication device.

9. The communication device as set forth in claim 1, further comprising content data output means for outputting the content data obtained by the content data obtaining means to a display which allows the communication device to transmit a display signal thereto, wherein

the content data output means begins to transmit the content data and begins to output the content data to the display at the same time.

10. The communication device as set forth in claim 1, wherein:

the content data is streaming data, and

the content data transmission means begins streaming transmission of the content data from a time when the content data obtaining means begins to obtain the content data.

11. The communication device as set forth in claim 1, wherein the content data transmission means specifies, as a communication counterpart device to which the obtained content data should be transmitted, only a specific communication device out of plural other communication devices with which the call session establishing means establishes call session.

12. The communication device as set forth in claim 11, wherein the specific communication device is, out of the plural other communication devices with which the call session establishing means establishes call session, a communication device included in a sharable communication device list in which communication devices allowed to share content data of the communication device are listed.

13. The communication device as set forth in claim 11, further comprising:

display means for displaying, in the display which allows the communication device to transmit a display signal thereto, a list of the plural other communication devices with which the call session establishing means establishes call session; and

communication device selection means for allowing a user to select at least one communication device from the plural other communication devices displayed in the display, wherein

the specific communication device is said at least one communication device selected by the user with the communication device selection means.

14. The communication device as set forth in claim 1, further comprising electronic mail transmission means for generating an electronic mail including the content data obtained by the content data obtaining means so as to transmit the electronic mail to an electronic mail address, wherein

when the content data transmission means fails to transmit the content data, the electronic mail transmission means transmits the electronic mail to the electronic mail address which has been beforehand associated with each of the plural other communication devices with which the call session establishing means establishes call session.

15. The communication device as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

content data storage means for storing therein content data sets obtained by the content data obtaining means so as to generate a content data list in which the stored content data sets are listed;

content data list transmission means for transmitting the content data list to said another communication device; and

content-data-obtaining-request receiving means for receiving a content-data-obtaining request for obtaining at least one content data set included in the content data list which request is transmitted from said another communication device having received the content data list, wherein

the content data transmission means transmits said at least one content data set, which has been requested to be obtained, to said another communication device having received the content data list.

16. A communication system, comprising:

the communication device as set forth in claim 1; and

another communication device which call session with said communication device.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, storing therein a program for causing a computer to function as the means of the communication device as set forth in claim 1.

18. The communication device as set forth in claim 1, wherein:

the content data obtaining means obtains the content data via a communication section for receiving content data transmitted by an external device, and

the content data transmission means specifies another communication device as a communication device, to which the obtained content data should be transmitted, if call session with said another communication device is established when the content data obtaining means obtains the content data via the communication section.

19. A communication method, comprising:

a first call session establishing step in which call session with other communication device is established;

a content data obtaining step in which content data is obtained from the outside;

a transmission destination specifying step in which another communication device is specified as a communication device, to which the obtained content data should be transmitted, if call session with said another communication device is established when the content data is obtained in the content data obtaining step; and

a second call session establishing step in which call session with a predetermined communication device is established, if the call session with the another communication is not established when the content data is obtained in the content data obtaining step.