Communication control device, communication system, and communication control method

• US 10,547,652 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2017
• Issued: 01/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Ricoh Company Limited
• Inventors: Imai, Takuya, Morita, Kenichiro, Nagamine, Shoh
• Primary Examiner(s): Mejia, Anthony
• Application Number:
  US15/705,680
• Publication Number:
  US 20180007095A1
• Time in Patent Office: 865 Days
• Field of Search: 709223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1086 session scope modification
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/2227 Quality of service monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/567 Multimedia conference systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2662 Controlling the complexity of the video stream, e.g. by scaling the resolution or bitrate of the video stream based on the client capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/147 Communication arrangements, e.g. identifying the communication as a video-communication, intermediate storage of the signals selecting H04Q
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/15 Conference systems

Abstract

A communication control device is configured to control data communication between terminals using a communication network. The communication control device include: a status-information acquiring unit configured to acquire respective pieces of status information which represent operating states of the terminals; a reception-information acquiring unit configured to acquire respective pieces of reception information which represent states of the communication network when the terminals have received data; a communication determining unit configured to determine a type of communication on the basis of a combination of pieces of status information of multiple terminals that participate in the same communication; and a quality control unit configured to control quality of data that each terminal transmits or receives on the basis of the determined type of communication and the acquired reception information.

Claims

1. A communication control device configured to control data communication between a plurality of terminals over a communication network, the communication control device comprising:

processing circuitry configured to;

acquire pieces of status information, each piece of status information representing an operating state of a corresponding terminal of the plurality of terminals;

acquire pieces of reception information, each piece of reception information representing a state of the communication network when a corresponding terminal of the plurality of terminals has received data;

determine whether communication is one-way communication or two-way communication based on a combination of the pieces of status information of multiple terminals that participate in a same communication; and

when the communication is determined to be one-way communication, determine a terminal, participating in the one-way communication, that is leading the one-way communication; and

control a quality of data that each terminal transmits or receives in the communication based on the type of communication and the pieces of reception information, wherein

each piece of status information includes an on/off state of a corresponding microphone that inputs voice,

when the combination of the pieces of status information of the multiple terminals that participate in the same communication indicates that a microphone of only one terminal is in an on state and microphones of the other terminals are all in an off state, the processing circuitry determines that the communication is one-way communication and that the terminal whose microphone is in an on state is leading the one-way communication, and

when the communication is determined to be one-way communication, the processing circuitry controls the quality of data transmitted by the terminal leading the one-way communication to be higher than a quality of data transmitted or received by terminals subordinate in the one-way communication.

2. The communication control device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a memory configured to store therein a correspondence table that associates the reception information with a quality parameter relating to quality of data with respect to each type of communication, wherein

the processing circuitry determines a quality parameter of data that each terminal transmits or receives with reference to the correspondence table.

3. The communication control device according to claim 2, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to

notify a relay device, which relays data communication between terminals, of the determined quality parameter, and

instruct the relay device to convert data transmitted from a transmitting-side terminal into data with quality indicated by the quality parameter and transmit the converted data to a receiving-side terminal.

4. The communication control device according to claim 2, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to

notify a transmitting-side terminal that transmits data of a determined quality parameter of data, and

instruct the transmitting-side terminal to transmit data with quality indicated by the quality parameter.

5. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein

the pieces of status information include an on/off state of a camera that takes a video, and

when the combination of the pieces of status information of the multiple terminals that participate in the same communication indicates that a camera of only one terminal is in an on state and cameras of the other terminals are all in an off state, the processing circuitry determines that the communication is one-way communication and that the terminal whose camera is in an on state is leading the one-way communication.

6. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein

the pieces of status information include a screen-sharing state of a display device, and

when the combination of the pieces of status information of the multiple terminals that participate in the same communication indicates that data transmitted by one terminal is shared among screens of all the terminals, the processing circuitry determines that the communication is one-way communication and that a source terminal of the data shared among the screens is leading the one-way communication.

7. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein

the pieces of status information include a screen layout state of a display device, and

when the combination of the pieces of status information of the multiple terminals that participate in the same communication indicates that there are multiple terminals that displays thereon only a video from one terminal, the processing circuitry determines that the communication is one-way communication and that a source terminal of the only one video displayed on the multiple terminals is leading the one-way communication.

8. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to control, when the communication is determined to be two-way communication, data transmitted by each of the terminals to be a same quality.

9. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine whether the communication has changed from one-way communication to two-way communication.

10. The communication control device according to claim 9, wherein when the communication is determined to have changed from one-way communication to two-way communication, the processing circuitry controls data transmitted by each of the terminals to be a same quality.

11. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein when the communication is determined to be one-way communication, the processing circuitry controls a resolution of video data transmitted by the terminal leading the one-way communication to be higher than a resolution of video data by the terminals subordinate in the one-way communication.

12. The communication control device according to claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry determines that the communication is one-way communication when one piece of status information indicates an on state of a camera of a corresponding terminal and remaining pieces of status information indicate an off state of cameras of corresponding terminals in the communication.

15. The communication control device according to claim 9, wherein the processing circuitry determines that the communication has changed from one-way communication to two-way communication based on a change of a piece of status information indicating that a microphone of a corresponding terminal in the communication has switched from an off state to an on state.

13. A communication system, comprising:

a plurality of terminals that perform data communication over a communication network; and

processing circuitry configured to;

acquire pieces of status information, each piece of status information representing an operating state of a corresponding terminal of the plurality of terminals;

acquire pieces of reception information, each piece of reception information representing a state of the communication network when a corresponding terminal of the plurality of terminals has received data;

determine whether communication is one-way communication or two-way communication based on a combination of the pieces of status information of multiple terminals that participate in a same communication;

when the communication is determined to be one-way communication, determine a terminal, participating in the one-way communication, that is leading the one-way communication; and

control a quality of data that each terminal transmits or receives in the communication based on the type of communication and the pieces of reception information, wherein

each piece of status information includes an on/off state of a corresponding microphone that inputs voice,

when the combination of the pieces of status information of the multiple terminals that participate in the same communication indicates that a microphone of only one terminal is in an on state and microphones of the other terminals are all in an off state, the processing circuitry determines that the communication is one-way communication and that the terminal whose microphone is in an on state is leading the one-way communication, and

when the communication is determined to be one-way communication, the processing circuitry controls the quality of data transmitted by the terminal leading the one-way communication to be higher than a quality of data transmitted or received by terminals subordinate in the one-way communication.

16. The communication system according to claim 13, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to determine whether the communication has changed from one-way communication to two-way communication.

17. The communication system according to claim 16, wherein when the communication is determined to have changed from one-way communication to two-way communication, the processing circuitry controls data transmitted by each of the terminals to be a same quality.

18. The communication system according to claim 13, wherein when the communication is determined to be one-way communication, the processing circuitry controls a resolution of video data transmitted by the terminal leading the one-way communication to be higher than a resolution of video data by the terminals subordinate in the one-way communication.

14. A communication control method for controlling data communication between a plurality of terminals over a communication network, the communication control method comprising:

acquiring pieces of status information, each piece of status information representing an operating state of a corresponding terminal of the plurality of terminals;

acquiring pieces of reception information, each piece of reception information representing a state of the communication network when a corresponding terminal of the plurality of terminals has received data;

determining whether communication is one-way communication or two-way communication based on a combination of the pieces of status information of multiple terminals that participate in a same communication;

when the communication is determined to be one-way communication, determining a terminal, participating in the one-way communication, that is leading the one-way communication; and

controlling a quality of data that each terminal transmits or receives in the communication based on the type of communication and the pieces of reception information, wherein

each piece of status information includes an on/off state of a corresponding microphone that inputs voice,

when the combination of the pieces of status information of the multiple terminals that participate in the same communication indicates that a microphone of only one terminal is in an on state and microphones of the other terminals are all in an off state, the communication is determined to be one-way communication and the terminal whose microphone is in an on state is determined to be leading the one-way communication, and

when the communication is determined to be one-way communication, the controlling includes controlling the quality of data transmitted by the terminal leading the one-way communication to be higher than a quality of data transmitted or received by terminals subordinate in the one-way communication.

19. The communication control method according to claim 14, further comprising:

controlling, when the communication is determined to be one-way communication, a resolution of video data transmitted by the terminal leading the one-way communication to be higher than a resolution of video data by the terminals subordinate in the one-way communication.

20. The communication control method according to claim 14, further comprising:

determining whether the communication has changed from one-way communication to two-way communication.