CN101404683B - Ip telephone system and method for controlling IP telephone system - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides an IP telephone terminal. The IP telephone terminal includes: an identification data receiving unit, a communication unit, an IP telephone function control unit, a determination unit, a terminal data acquisition unit, and a processing data transmission control unit. The identification data receiving unit receives identification data identifying another IP telephone terminal through the Internet. The communication unit establishes IP telephone communication with other IP telephone terminals identified by the identification data via the Internet. The IP telephone function control unit controls execution of an IP telephone function for conducting a telephone call with another IP telephone terminal via the communication unit. The determining unit determines the identification data received by the identification data receiving unit. Once the determining unit determines that terminal data identifying functions controllable by other IP telephone terminals is associated with the identification data received by the identification data receiving unit, the terminal data acquiring unit acquires terminal data associated with identification data sent from the other IP telephone terminals via the Internet. The processing data transmission control unit controls transmission of processing data, which is data used in a function identified by the terminal data acquired by the terminal data acquisition unit, to other IP telephone terminals via IP telephone communication.

Description

IP phone system and method for controlling IP phone system

technical field

The invention relates to an IP telephone terminal, an IP telephone program, an IP telephone coordination program, an IP telephone system and a method for controlling the IP telephone system.

Background technique

In recent years, Internet Protocol (IP) telephony systems such as Skype have become common. The IP telephony system can be used simply by installing an IP telephony application, which is software developed by an IP telephony provider, on a personal computer or other network terminal for making and receiving calls and conducting voice communication. Skype, which offers a free IP telephony app and free calling, is especially popular. One factor that enables Skype to offer free calls may be its peer-to-peer communication, which eliminates the need for servers.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2005-192086 and 2005-080025 disclose related technologies of IP telephony.

However, an IP telephone system such as Skype cannot recognize data of another IP telephone terminal when communicating with other terminals via an IP telephone call. Therefore, even when other callers use an IP telephone terminal equipped with functions other than the telephone function, the user of the IP telephone terminal cannot utilize these functions. In other words, the resources of the IP telephony system are not used efficiently and thus are wasted.

Section "Problems to Be Solved by the Invention" of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication 2005-192086 describes a simple communication system in which a communication device can perform functions not supported by the communication device itself but possessed by another device. However, there is no description of a structure that can solve the above problem, ie, how to recognize data of other devices and the functions they possess.

Specifically, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-192086 describes an IP telephone system having a server that registers information on a network terminal. With this system, each transceiver terminal has a function of referring to information registered on the server. Therefore, the user can acquire information on other terminals, and can send data that other terminals can process.

In order to register information on an external terminal, this technology can be incorporated into an IP telephone system such as Skype by introducing a server into the system. The server may be referred to to obtain information on the external terminal. However, connecting to a server makes the system more complex and expensive, which has a big impact on systems such as Skype that charge little or no usage fees.

The description in paragraph "0019" of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication 2005-080025 affirms that a sending device that transmits an image and a receiving device that receives an image can identify which communication method is used by using the SDP media stream description extended by the SIP message Both sides are supportive, but the technology does not adequately address the above-mentioned problems.

Contents of the invention

In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide an IP telephone terminal, an IP telephone program, and an IP telephone system capable of making an IP telephone terminal conveniently use another IP telephone during communication by an IP telephone on an IP telephone system such as Skype Functions on endpoints to efficiently use rather than waste IP telephony system resources.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an IP telephony cooperative program, an IP telephony system, and a method of controlling an IP telephony system capable of recognizing the telephony system on the network terminal itself or connected to the network terminal without using a server It can even recognize terminal data on IP telephony systems such as Skype.

To achieve the above and other objects, the present invention provides an IP telephone terminal. The IP telephone terminal includes: an identification data receiving unit, a communication unit, an IP telephone function control unit, a determination unit, a terminal data acquisition unit and a processing data transmission control unit. The identification data receiving unit receives identification data identifying another IP telephone terminal through the Internet. The communication unit establishes IP telephone communication with other IP telephone terminals identified by the identification data via the Internet. The IP telephone function control unit controls execution of an IP telephone function for conducting a telephone call with another IP telephone terminal via the communication unit. The determining unit (S121, S141) determines the identification data received by the identification data receiving unit. Upon determining that terminal data identifying functions controllable by other IP telephone terminals is associated with the identification data received by the identification data accepting unit, the terminal data acquiring unit acquires terminal data associated with the identification data received from the IP telephone terminal via the Internet. The processing data transmission control unit controls transmission of processing data, which is data used in a function identified by the terminal data acquired by the terminal data acquisition unit, to other IP telephone terminals via IP telephone communication.

The IP telephone terminal further includes an acquisition data storage unit. The acquired data storage unit stores acquired data for acquiring terminal data. Preferably, when the identification data includes acquisition data, the determination unit determines that the terminal data is associated with the identification data, and the terminal data acquisition unit acquires the terminal data by extracting the terminal data from the identification data.

The IP telephone terminal further includes a function execution setting unit and a processing data acquisition unit. The function execution setting unit sets execution of functions controllable by other IP telephone terminals. The processing data acquisition unit acquires processing data in a format to be processed by the function set by the function execution setting unit. Preferably, the processed data transmission control unit transmits the data acquired by the processed data acquisition unit to other IP telephone terminals.

The IP telephone terminal further includes a function selection unit. The function selection unit selects one of functions controllable by other IP telephone terminals from among a plurality of functions. Preferably, the function execution setting unit sets execution of one of the functions selected by the function selection unit.

Preferably, the identification data receiving unit receives identification data identifying each of the plurality of other IP telephone terminals. Preferably, the terminal data acquisition unit displays the terminal data acquired from each identification data. Preferably, the function selection unit selects a function specified by the terminal data displayed by the terminal data acquisition unit. Preferably, the processed data transmission control unit transmits the processed data used with the function selected by the function selecting unit to other IP telephone terminals transmitting the terminal data selected by the function selecting unit.

The IP telephone terminal further includes a function specifying unit. The function specifying unit receives an input specifying a function. Preferably, the terminal data acquisition unit displays terminal data identifying the function specified by the function specifying unit among the terminal data acquired by each of the identification data.

Preferably, the terminal data acquisition unit displays data of a plurality of functions provided in other IP telephone terminals that transmit the terminal data. Preferably, the function selection unit selects the function specified in any of the functions displayed by the terminal data acquisition unit. Preferably, the processing data transmission control unit transmits the processing data used with the function selected by the function selecting unit to other IP telephone terminals transmitting terminal data identifying the function selected by the function selecting unit.

According to another aspect, the present invention provides a method for controlling an IP telephone terminal by a controlling computer. The IP telephone terminal includes: an identification data receiving unit, a communication unit and an IP telephone function control unit. The identification data receiving unit receives identification data identifying another IP telephone terminal through the Internet. The communication unit establishes IP telephone communication with other IP telephone terminals identified by the identification data via the Internet. The IP telephone function control unit controls execution of an IP telephone function for conducting telephone calls with other IP telephone terminals via the communication unit. The method includes: causing a computer to function as a determination unit that determines identification data received by an identification data receiving unit, a terminal data acquisition unit, once the determination unit determines that the terminal data identifying functions that can be controlled by other IP telephone terminals is the same as that received by the identification data The identification data received by the unit, the terminal data acquisition unit, acquires the terminal data associated with the identification data sent from other IP telephone terminals through the Internet, and the processing data control unit, which controls the communication via the IP telephone, processes the data to other IP telephone terminals Transmission of the telephone terminal in which the processing data is the data used in the function identified by the terminal data acquired by the terminal data acquisition unit.

According to another aspect, the present invention provides a method for controlling an IP telephone terminal by a controlling computer. The IP telephone terminal includes: a communication unit, an identification data receiving unit and an IP telephone function control unit. The communication unit establishes IP telephone communication with another IP telephone terminal via the Internet. The identification data receiving unit receives an identification data set for each IP telephone terminal via the Internet. The IP telephone function control unit controls execution of an IP telephone function for conducting telephone calls with other IP telephone terminals through the communication unit. The method includes causing a computer to function as a function recognition unit that recognizes functions that can be controlled by its own IP telephone terminal, and a registration unit that registers terminal data that recognizes the functions recognized by the function recognition unit as other IP telephone terminals that can be recognized by The data received by the data receiving unit.

According to yet another aspect, the present invention provides an IP telephony system. The IP telephone system includes: another IP telephone terminal and its own IP telephone terminal. Another IP phone terminal is on the network. The IP telephone terminal itself includes: an identification data receiving unit, a communication unit, an IP telephone function control unit, a determination unit, a terminal data acquisition unit, and a processing data transmission control unit. The identification data receiving unit receives identification data identifying other IP telephone terminals via the Internet. The communication unit establishes IP telephone communication with other IP telephone terminals identified by the identification data via the Internet. The IP telephone function control unit controls execution of an IP telephone function for conducting telephone calls with other IP telephone terminals via the communication unit. The determining unit determines the identification data received by the identification data receiving unit. Once the determination unit determines that the terminal data identifying functions that can be controlled by other IP telephone terminals is associated with the identification data received by the identification data accepting unit, the terminal data acquisition unit acquires the terminal data associated with the identification data transmitted from the other IP telephone terminals via the Internet . The processing data transmission control unit controls transmission of processing data, which is data used in a function identified by the terminal data acquired by the terminal data acquiring unit, to other IP telephone terminals via IP telephone communication. Another IP telephone terminal includes: a function recognition unit, which recognizes functions that can be controlled by another IP telephone terminal; a registration unit, which registers terminal data identifying functions recognized by the function recognition unit as its own IP telephone terminal that can be identified by The data received by the data receiving unit.

According to yet another aspect, the present invention provides a method of controlling a computer operable to control a network terminal installed with an IP telephony application. This IP telephone application enables the network terminal to function as an identification data receiving unit, a communication unit, and an IP telephone function control unit. The identification data receiving unit receives identification data identifying another IP telephone terminal through the Internet. The communication unit establishes IP telephone communication with other IP telephone terminals identified by the identification data via the Internet. The IP telephone function control unit controls execution of an IP telephone function for conducting telephone calls with other IP telephone terminals via the communication unit. The method includes causing a computer to function as a determination unit that determines identification data received by an identification data receiving unit, a terminal data acquisition unit, once it is determined that the terminal data identifying functions that can be controlled by other IP telephone terminals and the identification received by the identification data receiving unit Data association, which unit obtains terminal data associated with identification data transmitted from other IP telephone terminals via the Internet, processed data transmission control unit, which controls transmission of processed data to other IP telephone terminals via IP telephone communication through the communication unit , wherein the processing data is the data used in the function identified by the terminal data acquired by the terminal data acquisition unit.

According to yet another aspect, the present invention provides a method for controlling a computer operable to control an IP telephone terminal. The IP telephone terminal enables the network terminal to be used as a communication unit and installs an IP telephone application program. The communication unit establishes IP telephone communication with another IP telephone terminal through the Internet. The identification data receiving unit receives an identification data set for each IP telephone terminal via the Internet. The own IP telephone application program is configured to control the execution of the IP telephone function for conducting telephone calls with other IP telephone terminals through the communication unit. The method includes causing the computer to function as a function recognition unit that recognizes functions controllable by its own IP telephone terminal, and a registration unit that registers terminal data recognizing the functions recognized by the function recognition unit in its own IP telephone application program, Data that can be received by the identification data receiving unit as other IP telephone terminals.

According to yet another aspect, the present invention provides an IP telephony system. An IP telephone system includes a plurality of IP telephone terminals. The plurality of IP telephone terminals include own IP telephone terminal (PC1) and other IP telephone terminals. The own IP telephone terminal uses the communication unit and the own IP telephone application installed in the own IP telephone terminal to make IP telephone calls with other IP telephone terminals. The communication unit establishes communication with other telephone terminals having the identification data receiving unit through the Internet. The identification data accepting unit receives identification data identifying each IP telephone terminal via the Internet. The IP phone application receives identification data identifying each of the IP phone terminals through the Internet and is configured to control execution of an IP phone function for conducting phone calls with other IP phone terminals through the communication unit. Preferably, the own IP telephone terminal includes a determination unit, a terminal data acquisition unit, and a processing data transmission control unit. The determining unit determines the identification data received by the identification data receiving unit. Upon determining that terminal data identifying functions controllable by other IP telephone terminals is associated with the identification data received by the identification data accepting unit, the terminal data acquiring unit acquires terminal data associated with identification data sent from other IP telephone terminals via the Internet. The processing data transmission control unit controls the transmission of the processing data to other IP telephone terminals via the IP telephone communication performed by the communication unit provided in the own IP telephone terminal, wherein the processing data is a function identified in the terminal data acquired by the terminal data acquisition unit data used in . Other IP telephone terminals include a function recognition unit and a registration unit. The function recognition unit recognizes functions controllable by other IP telephone terminals. The registration unit registers terminal data identifying functions recognized by the function recognition unit in IP telephone applications installed in other IP telephone terminals as data receivable by the own IP telephone application.

According to yet another aspect, the present invention provides a method of controlling an IP telephony system (1, 20) for use between an own network terminal and another network terminal on the network or It is an IP telephone call between telephone terminals connected to other network terminals. IP telephone calls are carried out by the communication unit (38) and its own IP telephone application program (4, 7, 12), the communication unit establishes IP telephone communication with other network terminals or other telephone terminals connected to other network terminals through the Internet, The other network terminals are provided with an identification data receiving unit (5) that receives identification data identifying each network terminal via the Internet, and the IP telephone application receives the identification data identifying each of the IP telephone terminals via the Internet and is configured to Controlling the execution of an IP telephone function for conducting telephone calls with other IP telephone terminals or other telephone terminals connected to other network terminals through the communication unit. Preferably, in the own network terminal, the method includes determining the identification data received by the identification data receiving unit, and once determining the terminal data and the identification data identifying functions that can be controlled by other network terminals or other telephone terminals connected to other network terminals Associating, acquiring terminal data associated with identification data via the Internet, controlling transmission of processing data to other network terminals or other telephone terminals connected to other network terminals via IP telephony communication via a communication unit provided in one's own network terminal, Wherein the processing data is data used in a function identified by the terminal data acquired by the terminal data acquiring unit. Preferably, in other network terminals or other telephone terminals connected to other network terminals, the method comprises the steps of: recognizing functions controllable by other network terminals or other telephone terminals connected to other network terminals; The terminal data of the terminal is registered in an IP telephone application installed in another network terminal or another telephone terminal connected to another network terminal as data receivable by its own IP application.

Description of drawings

The unique features and advantages of the present invention, as well as other objects, will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the structure of an IP telephone system according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing the structure of a personal computer on which an IP telephone application program, an intermediate application program, and a string adding module and a device monitoring module included in the intermediate application program are installed;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing steps in a device data registration process;

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing a series of steps in a procedure executed on the IP telephone system of the first embodiment;

Figure 5 is a screenshot showing an example of a user interface in an intermediary application;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating steps in a device data display process for a highlighted user device;

Figure 7 is a screenshot showing an example of a user interface for user equipment lookup;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating steps in a contact list acquisition process;

Figure 9 is a flowchart of the steps in a user equipment discovery process for finding user equipment supporting IP telephony applications;

Figure 10 is a flow chart illustrating the steps in a user device lookup result retrieval process that retrieves results from an IP telephony application;

Figure 11 is a flowchart showing the steps in a user device lookup process according to an intermediary application;

12 is a screenshot showing an example of a user interface using functions of a user device;

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing steps in a process of selecting a receiving terminal and a required function;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing steps in a process of generating image data and command data to be transmitted;

15 is a screenshot showing an example of a user interface of a firmware delivery program;

16 is a block diagram showing the structure of an IP telephone system according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing an electrical structure of an IP telephone system;

FIG. 18 is a sequence diagram showing a series of steps in a procedure executed on the IP telephone system of the second embodiment;

FIG. 19(a) is a flowchart showing detailed steps in the S12 process shown in FIG. 6;

FIG. 19(b) is an explanatory diagram showing a sample list of extracted character strings; and

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing detailed steps in the S14 process shown in FIG. 6 .

Detailed ways

first embodiment

A first embodiment of an IP telephone terminal, an IP telephone program, an IP telephone cooperative program, an IP telephone system, and a method for controlling an IP telephone system according to the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 15 .

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an IP telephone system 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

IP telephone system 1 in Fig. 1 comprises: personal computer PC1, the equipment 2 that is connected to personal computer PC1, personal computer PC2, the equipment 11 that is connected to personal computer PC2, personal computer PC3, the equipment 15 that is connected to personal computer PC3 and A plurality of personal computers (not shown) connected to the network.

FIG. 1 shows an example in which a device 2 connected to a personal computer PC1 scans an image, and a device 11 connected to a personal computer PC2 prints the scanned image.

The IP telephone application 4 and the intermediate application 3 are installed on the personal computer PC1. The IP telephone application 7 and the intermediate application 10 are installed on the personal computer PC2. The IP telephony application 12 and the middle application 14 are installed on the personal computer PC3. Here, the IP telephone application installed on each personal computer is communication software such as Skype capable of conducting telephone calls between personal computers via a network.

On the personal computer PC2, the intermediary application 10 registers the registration data on the device 11 in the registration data storage area 8 of the IP telephone application 7 . The registration data recorded in the registration data storage area 8 includes function identification data for functions possessed by the device 11 . More specifically, if the device 11 has a printing function, a scanning function, and a saving function for saving data on a media card, the data indicating that the device 11 can perform these functions is recorded in the data storage area 8 .

Next, processing performed when performing recording of data including function identification data in the registration data storage area 8 of the device 2 will be explained. This processing is performed before a series of IP telephony processing via the network.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the personal computer PC2. As shown in FIG. 2, the personal computer PC2 includes an IP telephone application 7, an intermediary application 10, a character string addition module 16 and a device monitoring module 17 included in the intermediary application 10, a device data list, and PC data.

When the intermediate application 10 is started, the character string adding module 16 acquires the display name "yamada" from the IP telephone application 7, acquires the PC name "pc" from the PC data of the personal computer PC2, generates a character string "pc_yamada", and assigns the The character string is sent to the device monitoring module 17. To handle changes in the PC name or display name, this process can also be done periodically or whenever the name changes.

The device monitoring module 17 stores the character string received from the character string adding module 16 every time a character string is sent.

As described below, the device monitoring module 17 monitors devices connected to the personal computer PC2 to determine whether the device environment of the personal computer PC2 has been updated or whether the devices connected to the personal computer PC2 support IP telephony. Based on the monitoring results, the device monitoring module 17 generates a display name and a profile file for each monitored device, and sends this data to the string adding module 16 .

In the example of FIG. 2 , devices A, B and C send their respective device names “Br_mfc_Ink_330 ”, “Br_dcp_Ink_420 ” and “Br_mfc_laser_480 ” to the device monitoring module 17 .

The device monitoring module 17 recognizes that the three devices support IP telephone communication, and sends the display name “pc_yamada_3devces_d1_Br_mfc_Ink_330_d2_Br_dcp_Ink_420_d3_Br_mfc_laser_480” to the character string adding module 16 . In this display name, "pc_yamada_3devices" indicates that three devices connected to pc_yamada have been detected. Further, a character string "dn_" (where n=1-3) is inserted before each device name.

As described below, since each device name is also recorded as a profile, a character string indicating the device name can be omitted from the display name.

In addition, the device monitoring module 17 saves the file "Device1=Br_mfc_Ink_330

Device2=Br_dcp_Ink_420 Device3=Br_mfc_laser_480" is sent to the string adding module 16.

The character string adding module 16 refers to the device data list, and obtains the functions possessed by the device corresponding to each device name received from the device monitoring module 17, and appends a character string representing the obtained function of each device to the slave device monitoring module 17 The corresponding file received.

The device data list includes data specifying functions supported by each type of device.

The character string adding module 16 also refers to the PC data to acquire functions possessed by the personal computer PC2, and appends character strings representing these acquired functions to the profile. Here, "PCDATA" ("PC data") is a collective term for data stored in the registry and ini files, etc., on the personal computer PC2, and includes the OS version on the personal computer PC2 and the data. The functions possessed by the personal computer PC2 can be identified from the OS version, the type of installed application programs, and the like.

Specifically, the string adding module 16 sets the file as:

"Device1=Br_mfc_Ink_330, Print Scan Card FAX Color Ink

Device2＝Br_dcp_Ink_420, Print Scan Card Color Ink

Device3＝Br_mfc_laser_480, Print Scan FAX

Mono Laser

Pc=Win_XP, OCR". In the file, "Print" means printing function, "Scan" means scanning function, "FAX" means fax function, "Color" and "Mono" means color printing and monochrome printing function, "Ink " and "Laser" indicate an inkjet system and a laser system, "Win_XP" indicates that the OS on a personal computer is Windows (registered trademark) XP, and "OCR" indicates an optical character recognition function. The character string adding module 16 is also used by the device The same display name generated by the monitoring module 17, i.e.

"pc_yamada_3devices_d1_Br_mfc_Ink_330_d2_Br_dcp_Ink_420_d3_Br_mfc_laser_480".

Record the display name and profile in the IP telephony application 7.

Next, the above process of registering device data will be explained with reference to FIG. 3 . FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the steps in this process. In the flowchart of FIG. 3 , the processing in S1 - S5 and S8 is performed by the device monitoring module 17 , and the processing in S6 , S7 and S9 - S11 is performed by the character string adding module 16 .

In S1 of FIG. 3 , the device monitoring module 17 determines whether the device environment of the personal computer PC2 has changed. If the environment has been updated (S1: Yes), the device monitoring module 17 proceeds to S2, and if the environment has not changed (S1: No), the device data registration process is terminated. If the processing is performed immediately after the personal computer PC2 is started, the device monitoring module 17 determines that the device environment has changed and proceeds to S2.

In S2, the device monitoring module 17 determines whether a device supporting IP telephone communication exists among the updated devices. If one of the updated devices supports the IP telephone device (S2: Yes), the device monitoring module 17 proceeds to S3, or if the IP telephone device is not involved in the update, terminates the device data registration process. When this process is performed immediately after the personal computer PC2 starts up, the device monitoring module 17 determines that the IP telephone device is included in the updated devices and proceeds to S3.

In S3, the device monitoring module 17 determines whether a device is connected to the personal computer PC2. The device monitoring module 17 proceeds to S4 when the device is connected (S3: Yes), and proceeds to S8 when the device is not connected (S3: No).

In S4, the device monitoring module 17 adds a character string representing the connection name of the device to each device name, and a character string "_dn_" (where n is a number between 1 and the number of connected devices) to each device name. The head of each device name, and the character string formed by concatenating each device name is sent to the string adding module 16 as the display name. Subsequently, the device monitoring module 17 proceeds to S5.

In S5, the device monitoring module 17 obtains a device data character string from each device by adding "devicen=" (where n is a number between 1 and the number of connected devices) to the head of the character string. A new character string is formed and this new character string is sent to the character string adding module 16 as a dossier. Subsequently, processing continues from S6.

In S6, the character string adding module 16 acquires a character string representing each device and the function of the personal computer PC2 transmitted in the profile from the device data list and the PC data, and then proceeds to S7.

In S7, the character string adding module 16 appends a character string representing the acquired device and the function of the personal computer PC2 to each device data in the profile, and then proceeds to S11.

In S8, the device monitoring module 17 sends to the character string adding module 16 a character string which is a display name indicating that no device is connected, and then the process proceeds to S9.

In S9, the character string adding module 16 acquires the function of the personal computer PC2 from the PC data, and then proceeds to S10.

In S10, the character string adding module 16 adds a character string indicating the function of the personal computer PC2 to the profile, and then proceeds to S11.

In S11 , the character string adding module 16 records the display name and profile in the IP phone application program 7 .

The intermediary application 10 according to the preferred embodiment recognizes functions possessed by the personal computer PC2 or a device connected to the personal computer PC2. The recognized functions are recorded in the IP telephone application 7 as function identification data that can be acquired by other IP telephone applications. The function identification data constitutes at least a part of the registration data recorded in the IP telephone application 7, and can be provided to other personal computers carrying out IP telephone communication via another IP telephone application.

On the personal computer PC3 , the intermediary application 14 records registration data including function identification data for functions possessed by the device 15 in the registration data storage area 13 of the IP telephone application 12 . This registration is performed by manual input by a user of the personal computer PC3 or the like. The intermediary application 3 of the personal computer PC1 also has a function similar to that of the intermediary application 10 for recording function identification data including functions possessed by the device 2 in the registration data storage area (not shown) of the IP telephone application 4. from.

In FIG. 1, a plurality of personal computers (not shown) other than the personal computers PC1-PC3 are connected to the network. As for the personal computers PC1-PC3, an IP telephone application and an intermediate application are installed on each of these personal computers, and devices are connected to the computers. Accordingly, registration data including function identification data for functions possessed by each device is recorded in the registration data storage area of the corresponding IP telephone application.

In other words, registration data including function identification data for functions possessed by each device is recorded in the registration data storage area of each corresponding IP telephone application installed on the personal computers PC1-PC3 and other personal computers.

The registration data stored in the registration data storage area 8, the registration data storage area 13, and the registration storage area of each IP telephone application program installed on a plurality of other personal computers are transmitted to the personal computer PC1 via the network. The IP phone application 4 then stores the registration data in the registration data storage area 5 of the IP phone application 4 .

Next, steps in processing will be described using an example of data acquired from the device 2 connected to the personal computer PC1 and then processed by the device 11 connected to the personal computer PC2. Figure 4 shows a series of steps performed by the IP telephony program according to the preferred embodiment.

First, the intermediary application 3 issues a search command to the IP telephony application 4 to find user equipment. The IP telephone application 4 looks for user devices installed on IP telephone applications (IP telephone application 7 etc.) on other personal computers. At this time, the IP telephone application 7 and the like transmit user equipment data (registration data) to the IP telephone application 4 , and the IP telephone application 4 stores the registration data in the registration data storage area 5 .

In P1, the intermediary application 3 performs a process of acquiring a contact list based on registration data received from other personal computers and stored in the registration data storage area 5. This process will be explained in more detail later, but allows the intermediary application 3 to obtain the contact list of the user device registered in the IP telephony application. The contact list is a list of user devices representing candidates that can be called from the IP telephony application 4 . Therefore, although not shown in the drawings, the IP telephone application 4 stores registration data acquired from IP telephone applications installed on other personal computers, and the IP telephone applications 7 and 12 are also provided with a contact list. Additionally, the contact list can be edited outside of the IP phone application.

In P2, the intermediary application 3 selects the receiving terminal and function to be used. This process will be described in detail later, and after selecting a desired function, the intermediary application 3 issues a data acquisition command corresponding to the selected function to the device 2 connected to the personal computer PC1.

In P3, device 2 acquires data based on the selected function. For example, the device 2 transmits scanned image data to the intermediary application 3 of the personal computer PC1.

In P4, the intermediary application 3 generates image data and command data to be transmitted. The processing will be described in detail below, and based on the type of processing to be performed on the target device, the acquired data is used to generate image data and command data to be transmitted.

In P5, the intermediary application 3 issues a command to send the acquired data. A command for sending the data acquired in P3 is issued to the IP telephone application 4 . Next, the IP telephone application 4 of the personal computer PC1 issues a command to the IP telephone application 7 of the personal computer PC2 to confirm data transmission authorization.

In P6, the intermediary application 10 monitors the data for the receipt of the command confirming the data transmission authorization. At this time, when the command is forwarded from the IP telephony application 4 and received by the IP telephony application 7, the intermediary application 10 detects such a command.

In P7, in response to the command forwarded from the IP telephone application 4 to the IP telephone application 7, the intermediary application 10 performs a process of designating a place to save received data, and then issues a command to the IP telephone application 7 to authorize The data is sent, and the sender saves the received data as specified in the place. The IP telephone application 7 issues to the IP telephone application 4 a command confirming data transmission authorization.

In P8, the intermediary application 3 monitors the received data for a command authorizing data transmission, and when the command is forwarded from the IP telephony application 7 to the IP telephony application 4, detects the data transmission authorization command.

In P9, the IP telephone application 4 executes a data transmission function. Specifically, the file transmission unit 6 provided in the IP telephone application 4 attaches command data corresponding to functions provided on the device 11 to the data acquired in P3, and sends the data to the IP telephone application 7 The file receiving unit 9 provided in.

In P10, the intermediary application 10 waits to send data, and then receives the data sent in P9.

In P11, the intermediary application 10 interprets command data among the data received from the IP telephone application 4, and outputs a data processing command of a selected function to the device 11 based on the interpreted command data.

In P12, the device 11 performs data processing using the function specified by the data processing command.

Through the above-described processing P1-P12, data for the selected function is acquired from the device 2, and the device 11 performs data processing on the acquired data using the selected function.

The processing in P5-P10 constitutes processing for sending image data and command data from the personal computer PC1 to the personal computer PC2.

The intermediary application 3 according to the preferred embodiment may select a function possessed by the personal computer PC2 to execute, acquire data in a format to be processed by the selected function, and instruct the IP telephone application 4 to send the data. Correspondingly, when the IP telephone application program 4 installed on the personal computer PC1 only has the function of communicating with other personal computers, the intermediate application program can direct the personal computer PC2 to implement the prescribed function.

In addition, since the intermediary application 3 according to the preferred embodiment transmits data identifying a selected function in addition to data to be processed, the personal computer PC2 can process data received from the intermediary application 3 using the specified function.

Next, this processing will be described in more detail. When the user of the personal computer PC1 inputs an instruction to the intermediary application 3 at a desired time, the user interface of the intermediary application 3 shown in FIG. 5 is started.

The user interface shown in FIG. 5 is for acquiring information recorded in an IP telephone application (eg, IP telephone application 7) installed on another PC via the IP telephone application 4 installed on the personal computer PC1. Data in process of S1-S11, and used for functions using other PCs and devices connected to other PCs. Therefore, the user interface of the intermediate application program 10 includes: a "Search for User Devices..." ("Search for User Devices...") button for displaying the user interface (see Figure 7) to obtain records installed in another Data on an IP phone application on a PC, and also includes a "Functions Using User Devices..." button for displaying the user interface (see Figure 12) to Use functions of other PCs and devices connected to other PCs.

The box labeled "Device Data for the Selected User Device" in the UI displays the display name corresponding to the one selected in the "Contact list" (display name highlighted with a dotted line in the contact list) feature identification data. In the example shown in Figure 5, the device name "Br DCP420" and device function "PRINTER, SCANNER, MEDIA CARD SLOT" ("Printer, Scanner, Media Card Slot" ) are displayed as device data.

By pressing the corresponding button "Chat..." ("Chat..."), "Call... "("Call..."), "File Transfer..."("File transfer...") and "Search for User..."("Find user...") to execute IP telephony applications any basic functionality it has.

Also, press the buttons "Functions Using UserDevices..." and "Expanded Functions of the IP Telephone Application". One of the "Search for User Devices..." ("Finding User Devices...") activates the corresponding user interface for implementing the functionality of using the User Devices and for finding the User Devices.

6 is a flow diagram illustrating steps in a process for displaying device data associated with a highlighted user device display name. This process is performed each time the highlighted display name changes in the user interface of FIG. 5 .

In S12 of FIG. 6 , the intermediary application 3 acquires device data corresponding to the highlighted display name from the display name and profile.

In S13, the intermediary application 3 determines whether the device data has been successfully acquired. When the device data is obtained successfully (S13: Yes), the process jumps to S15, and when not successful (S13: No), proceeds to S14.

In S14 , the intermediary application 3 acquires data indicating the type of the device specified in the highlighted display name and the functions of the device from the device data list.

In S15, the intermediary application 3 displays the device name and device function obtained in the "DeviceData for the Selected User Device" ("Device Data for the Selected User Device") frame of the user interface shown in Figure 5 above.

Here, an example has been given of a process of directly extracting device data for a prominent display name from a display name or a profile, or indirectly extracting device data by referring to a device data list based on a prominent display name.

In addition, it is possible to extract functions possessed by each device from registration data for each device, and configure function identification data by individually appending these functions to corresponding display names of user devices. For example, the function identification data extracted from the registration data may be "deviceA_userB_printer", "deviceA_userB_scanner", "deviceA_userB_FAX", and "deviceA_card".

Next, the process of acquiring a contact list performed in P1 of FIG. 4 will be explained.

Figure 7 illustrates an example user interface for user device search that is displayed when the user presses the "Search for UserDevices..." button in the user interface of Figure 5. Using this user interface, a user can retrieve data registered in an IP phone application installed on another PC. The user interface for user device discovery consists of a selector displayed under "1. Please Select the Search Criteria" (in this example "Display name" is selected )); "Search by Device Function" and "Search by Device Function" under "2. Please Select the Function or Type of Device" ("2. Please Select the Function or Type of Device") Device Type" ("Search by Device Function" is selected) (in this example, "Search by Device Function" is selected); The "Search" button displayed under "Search Button" ("3. Please press the search button"); the list of search results displayed under "User Device Search Results"; when When pressed, insert the prominent user device in the user device search result into the "Insert Selected User Device into Contact List" in the contact list ("insert the selected user device into the contact list"); and a "Cancel" button which, when pressed, cancels the user device discovery.

The user first specifies the criteria for finding the user's device from items in the registration data in "1. Please Select the Search Criteria" ("1. Please Select the Search Criteria"), and then the user specifies the criteria in "2. Please Select the Function or Type of Device" ("2. Please select the function or type of the device") to specify the attributes of the user's device that the user wants to obtain in the search. After the user presses the "Search" button, the processing in S16 of Fig. 8 described later is executed to obtain the user corresponding to the above designation under "User Device Search Results" ("User Device Search Results") Device lookup results.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating steps in a process for obtaining a list of contacts.

In S16 of FIG. 8 , the intermediary application 3 searches for user equipment supporting the IP telephony application. This process is executed when the user presses the "Search" button after designating the function or type of the device being searched in the user interface of FIG. 7 . The intermediary application 3 acquires user equipment search results (registration data) from the IP telephone application and displays the functions or types of devices included in the search results.

In S17, the intermediary application 3 processes to add the user equipment supporting the IP telephony application from the search result to the contact list. More specifically, when the user presses "Insert Selected User Device into Contact List" ("Insert Selected User Device into Contact List") in the user interface of Figure 7, the intermediary application 3 will look for The highlighted user devices in the results are added to the contact list provided in the IP telephony application 4 . Subsequently, the intermediary application 3 terminates the contact list acquisition process.

Next, the process for finding a user device supporting an IP telephone application will be explained in detail. FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing steps in this search process performed in S16 of FIG. 8 .

In S18 of Fig. 9, the intermediate application program 3 will represent the user's "1.Please Select the Search Criteria" ("1. Please select the search criteria") and "2.Please Select the Function or" in the user interface of Fig. 7 The data specified in "Type of Device" ("2. Please select the function or type of the device") is stored in the variable DEV.

In S19, the intermediary application program 3 performs processing to acquire the user equipment search result from the IP phone application program in the acquired registration data.

In S20, the intermediary application 3 performs processing to find the user equipment. Subsequently, the intermediary application 3 terminates the process of searching for a user device supporting the IP telephone application started in S16 of FIG. 8 .

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing steps in a process for acquiring a user device search result from the IP telephone application initialized in S19 of FIG. 9 .

In S21 of FIG. 10 , the intermediary application 3 sends a user equipment search command to the application program interface (API) of the IP phone application 4 . In response, the IP telephony application 4 looks up the user equipment for registration data according to the procedures defined by the IP telephony specifications.

In S22 , the intermediary application 3 acquires the search result of the user equipment from the IP telephone application 4 via the API of the IP telephone application 4 .

After completing S22, the intermediary application 3 terminates the process of obtaining the user equipment search result from the IP phone application.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing steps in the process of finding user equipment performed by the intermediary application 3 in S20 of FIG. 9 .

In S23 of FIG. 11 , the intermediary application 3 acquires a character string from the device data list based on the variable DEV identifying the device of the searched target. The device data list includes values representing functions or types of devices similar to the value stored in the variable DEV, and corresponding data in the form of character strings identifying devices having these functions or devices of these types.

In S24, the intermediary application 3 searches the character string obtained in S23 from the user equipment search results received by the IP phone application.

In S25, the intermediary application 3 determines whether there is any user device corresponding to the character string used in the lookup. If such a device exists (S25: Yes), the intermediary application 3 proceeds to S26, and if such a device does not exist (S25: No), it proceeds to S28.

In S26, the intermediary application 3 extracts all user devices matching the string used in the lookup.

In S27, the intermediate application 3 displays all the user devices extracted in S26 in the list under "Results of the user device search" ("results of the user device search") in the user interface of Fig. 7 . Subsequently, the intermediary application 3 terminates the user device lookup process for the user device supporting the IP telephony application.

In S28, the intermediary application 3 displays a message indicating that the selected user equipment does not exist. For example, the intermediate application program 3 outputs a message "The selected user device was not found. Either the user device does not exist or is not online." ("The selected user is not found, the user device does not exist or is not online"). After the user presses "OK" ("OK"), the intermediary application 3 terminates the user device search process for finding a user device supporting the IP phone application.

On the personal computer PC1 integrated with the IP telephone application, even in the IP telephone system without using a server, the intermediary application 3 according to the preferred embodiment can acquire function identification data for identifying other personal computers or other devices. The intermediary application 3 either extracts the data from the registration data acquired by the IP telephony application 4, or indirectly obtains data based on the registration data, which is recorded in another IP telephony application installed on the network personal computer . Accordingly, the intermediary application 3 can identify functions possessed by other personal computers or other devices based on data recorded on other IP telephony applications.

In addition, with the intermediary application 3 according to the preferred embodiment, the user of the personal computer PC1 can visually recognize a plurality of functions possessed by other personal computers or other telephone terminals.

Next, the process of selecting a receiving terminal and a required function in P2 of FIG. 4 will be explained.

When the user presses the "Functions UsingUserDevices..." ("functions using user equipment...") button in the user interface of Figure 5 at any time, the intermediate application 3 starts for using the The user interface of the function of the user equipment, and execute the processing in P2 of FIG. 4 , which will be described in detail below with reference to FIG. 13 .

The user interface used to use the functions of the user device in Figure 12 includes: "ContactList" ("contact list") and "Target User Device" ("target user device") boxes for adding target users to the "Target User Device" User Device" ("target user device") and "Add" and "Delete" buttons to delete from it, radio buttons for specifying target data in the contact list (in In this example, the radio buttons used to select "Scanned Data" or "Exist Files" to specify the functionality to be performed on the target user's device (in In this example, select "Print" ("Print"), "Save Image to Media Card" ("Save the image to the media card") or "OCR") for the "OK" ("OK" ) button, and the "Cancel" button to cancel the function.

A target user device is a user device targeted for processing based on the selected functionality. Multiple target user devices may be specified. In order to add user devices to the "Target User

"Devices" ("target user equipment") box, the user can highlight the user device to be added to the target user device in the contact list, and press the "Add" ("add") button. Similarly, if the user wishes to add the user Devices are removed from the "Target User Devices" box, the user can highlight the user device to be removed from the "Target User Devices" and press the "Delete" button.

Once the user presses the "OK" button in the user interface of FIG. 12, the intermediary application 3 performs part of the processing in P2 of FIG. 4 based on the selected function, and the device 2 executes the processing in P3.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing steps in a process for selecting a receiving terminal and performing a desired function when the user interface of FIG. 12 is displayed.

In S29 of FIG. 13 , the intermediary application 3 determines whether the "Add" button is pressed. If the "Add" button is pressed (S29: Yes), the intermediate application 3 proceeds to S30, and if not (S29: No), proceeds to S33.

In S30, the intermediary application 3 adds the user device highlighted in the contact list to the target user device.

In S31, the intermediate application program 3 displays the newly added user device in the "Target User Devices" ("target user device") frame of the user interface.

In S32, the intermediary application 3 stores the target user equipment in the variable TD.

In S33, the intermediary application 3 determines whether the "OK" ("OK") button is pressed. If the "OK" ("OK") button is pressed (S33: Yes), the intermediary application 3 proceeds to S35, and if not (S33: No), proceeds to S34.

In S34, when the user selects the radio button next to "Existing Files" ("Existing Files") under "Target Data" ("Target Data") in the user interface of Figure 12, or the user presses the " Cancel" ("Cancel") button, select the intermediate application 3 for additional processing. If the user selects the radio button next to "Existing Files" ("existing files"), then the intermediate application 3 performs the processing of the specified file. Subsequently, the intermediary application 3 returns to S29.

When the user presses the "Cancel" button, the intermediary application 3 closes the UI window for using the functions of the user's device and cancels all subsequent steps of the process.

In S35, the intermediary application 3 stores the function performed by the target user equipment in the variable TF. Subsequently, the intermediary application 3 issues a data acquisition command to the device 2 based on the required function (the function to be executed by the target user device), prompting the device 2 to execute the process of P3 in FIG. 4 . At this point, the intermediary application 3 terminates the process of selecting a receiving terminal and a desired function.

Once the device 2 has performed the processing of P3 in FIG. 4 and the intermediary application 3 has received data from the device 2, the intermediary application 3 performs the processing in P4 of FIG. 4 for generating image data and command data to be sent . Fig. 14 is a flowchart showing steps in a process for generating image data and command data to be transmitted.

In S35 of Fig. 14, the intermediary application 3 selects a function to be performed on the target user equipment based on the variable TF. When the selected function is "Print" ("print"), the intermediate application 3 advances to S37, and when the selected function is "Save to Media Card" ("save to the media card"), advances to S39, when the selected When the function is "OCR", proceed to S40.

In S37, the intermediary application 3 converts the acquired image data into print data. More specifically, the intermediary application 3 converts image data into a format for printing on a target user device, and appends codes for printing control.

In S38, the intermediary application 3 generates a print order file. Specifically, the intermediary application 3 stores print order data in the order data shown in FIG. 1 . Subsequently, the intermediary application 3 terminates the process of generating image data and command data to be transmitted.

In S39, the intermediary application 3 generates command data for saving data on the media card. More specifically, the intermediary application 3 stores memory card save command data in the command data shown in FIG. 1 . Subsequently, the intermediary application 3 terminates the process of generating image data and command data to be transmitted.

In S40, the intermediate application program 3 performs image processing to convert the acquired image data into data supported by OCR. More specifically, the intermediary application 3 sets a suitable threshold for OCR, and based on this threshold, performs binarization on the image data.

In S41, the intermediary application 3 creates OCR command data, and then terminates the process of generating image data and command data to be transmitted.

The above-mentioned processes of S36-S41 are executed on all target devices stored in the array of the variable TD.

Since the intermediary application 3 according to the preferred embodiment transmits data identifying required functions to be used in processing data together with the data, other personal computers or other telephone terminals can process received data using specified functions.

In addition, the intermediary application 3 according to the preferred embodiment can acquire and display at least terminal function identification data identifying a plurality of other personal computers or a plurality of other devices. The user may choose to direct the display terminal function identification data of one of the other personal computers or devices to process the data.

In addition, the intermediary application 3 according to the preferred embodiment can display function identification data related to user-specified functions possessed by other personal computers or other devices.

In addition, in the case of having the IP telephone system 1 and the method of controlling the telephone system 1 according to the preferred embodiment, even when the IP telephone system does not employ a server, the intermediary application 3 can be accessed directly or indirectly from the IP telephone application The function identification data for identifying these functions is obtained from the registration data acquired by the program 4, and the functions possessed by other personal computers or other devices are identified. Registration data is data recorded in another IP telephone application installed on other personal computers on the network.

In addition, the functions possessed by another personal computer or another device are recorded in other corresponding IP telephone application programs as function identification data that can be obtained by the IP telephone application program 4 . The feature identification data constitutes at least part of registration data recorded in other IP telephony applications. The personal computer PC1 can acquire this function identification data when an IP telephone call is made via the IP telephone application 4 .

Even when the IP telephone application 4 installed on the personal computer PC1 has only a function of communicating with the personal computer, the intermediary application 3 can implement the prescribed function on another personal computer or device on the network. Specifically, the intermediary application program 3 can select the functions on the personal computer or other devices to be executed, obtain the data in the format required by the selected function processing, and guide the IP phone application program 4 to send the data.

For example, when an IP telephone application including only a function of implementing communication between terminals has been installed on the own network terminal, resources of the IP telephone system can be effectively used without the need for replacing the IP telephone application long processing time.

In addition, since the intermediary application 3 transmits data identifying a function to be used for processing data together with the data to be processed in the IP telephone system 1 according to the present embodiment, a personal computer or other device can use a designated function to process received data.

Data transmitted by one network terminal can be processed on another network terminal using the processing function selected by the network terminal transmitting the data, thus effectively utilizing the resources of the network terminal on the transmitting side and the network terminal on the receiving side.

Example Variations

Next, a firmware transmission procedure according to a modification of the embodiment will be explained. Fig. 15 shows an example of a user interface in the firmware sending program.

The firmware sending program is for sending the firmware of the prescribed device from the manufacturer of the development device. In this variation, firmware includes firmware that defines the device itself and intermediate applications that run between the device and the IP telephony application.

The user interface of the firmware sending program shown in Figure 15 includes: "Select User Data" ("Select User Data") selector, "Device Type" ("Device Type") selector, "Device Model" ("Device Model ") list, "Firmware Selection" ("Firmware Selection") input line, "User Search Results" ("User Search Results") list, "Device Data for Selected User" ("selected user's device data") sub window, "Search" button, "Transmit" button, and "Cancel" button.

The administrator of the firmware support at the manufacturer launches the user interface in Figure 15 when required; use the "1. Please Select the Search Criteria" ("1. Please select the search criteria") selector (in this example Select the "Display name" ("display name"), to select from the registration data the provisions of the user device lookup; use the "Device Type" ("device type") selector to choose the type of device to be looked up (in this example, Select "Inkjet printer, multifunction device" ("inkjet printer, multifunction device")); and from the "DeviceModel" ("device model") list, select the model of the device you are looking for (in this example, select "MFC -420CN"). The selector has the same functionality as in Figure 7. When the administrator then presses the "Search" ("find") button, the intermediary application 3 performs the process illustrated in Figure 9 to find user equipment that supports IP telephony applications, and matches the The user device's display name, etc. is displayed in the "User DeviceSearch Results" box.

In addition, when there is any change in the prominent device in the search result, the process of FIG. 6 is executed to display the name of the prominent user device and the function possessed by the device. When the administrator enters the file name of the firmware to be sent into the "Firmware Selection" input line and presses the "Transmit" button, the firmware specified by the file name is sent to the The user device displayed in the User Device Discovery Results box. Once the firmware is received by the user devices, the user devices update their firmware.

In this way, the intermediary application 3 can update the firmware on the network terminal or telephone terminal equipped with the IP telephone application based on the data recorded in its IP telephone application. Sometimes manufacturers create and update firmware for every function of a device. In the case of a variation of the embodiment, the intermediate application program 3 may verify the functions of the user equipment and send correct firmware for updating.

second embodiment

Next, an IP telephone terminal, an IP telephone program, and an IP telephone system of the present invention will be described according to a second embodiment with reference to FIGS. 16-20.

FIG. 16 shows the structure of the IP telephone system 20 according to the second embodiment.

In the IP telephone system 20 of the second embodiment, the same parts and components as those of the IP telephone system of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 are assigned the same reference numerals to avoid duplication of description.

The IP telephone application 4 and the intermediate application 3 are installed on the personal computer PC1 in the first embodiment, and the IP telephone application 24 is installed on the personal computer PC1 in the second embodiment. The IP telephone application 24 is a program capable of implementing the functions of the IP telephone application 4 and the intermediate application 3 described in the first embodiment.

Similarly, the IP telephone application program 27 is installed on the personal computer PC2 of the second embodiment, wherein the IP telephone application program 27 is capable of implementing the IP telephone application program 7 and the intermediate application program 19 described in the first embodiment. Functional program.

Although the IP telephone application 24 and the IP telephone application 27 have the same operations and effects in the second embodiment, different reference numerals are used in the following description for convenience.

In addition, the character string adding module 16 and the device monitoring module 17 (see Fig. 2) are all integrated in the IP telephone application programs 24 and 27 for implementing the device data registration process on the personal computer PC1 and the personal computer PC2 (see Fig. 3). However, since the character string adding module 16 and device monitoring module 17 and device data registration processing are the same as those described in the first embodiment, descriptions of these modules and processing will not be repeated.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing the electrical configuration of the IP telephone system 20 according to the second embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 17 , the personal computer PC1 has a CPU 31 , a ROM 32 , a RAM 33 and a hard disk drive (HDD) 34 . The personal computer PC1 also has: an audio interface 37 capable of being connected to an audio streaming device 37a for carrying out IP telephone communication with another IP telephone terminal specified by a display name via the Internet 80; a network interface 38; USB interface39. The personal computer PC1 also has other components such as a monitor (not shown) for displaying the user interface explained with reference to FIG. 5 and the like, and explanations of these devices are omitted.

The CPU 31 controls the components of the personal computer PC1 based on fixed values and programs stored in the ROM 32 , RAM 33 , and HDD 34 . The above-mentioned IP telephone application program 24 is stored in HDD34.

Although in the example of FIG. 17 the personal computer PC1 is connected to the device 2 via a USB connection, it is obvious that the personal computer PC1 can control devices connected to the LAN.

Next, processing of processing data acquired from the device 2 connected to the personal computer PC1 on the device 70 connected to the personal computer PC2 will be described.

FIG. 18 is a sequence diagram showing a series of steps executed by a program on the IP telephone system according to the second embodiment. First, the IP phone application 24 performs a search for user equipment on the Internet by issuing inquiries to IP phone applications (the IP phone application 27, etc.) installed on other personal computers.

The IP phone application 27 and the like return user device data (registration data) including a display name (an example of identification data) to the IP phone application 24, and the IP phone application 24 stores the registration data in the registration data storage area 5 (See Figure 16).

Some systems may have special user devices called supernodes that manage registration data for all IP telephony applications. In this case, the supernode returns registration data for each IP telephony application in response to a lookup on the IP telephony application 24 .

If a SuperNode exists in the system described in the first embodiment, the SuperNode will return registration data for each IP Telephony Application in response to a lookup by the IP Telephony Application 4 .

In P21, the IP telephone application 24 of the personal computer PC1 performs a process of acquiring a contact list based on the registration data recorded in the registration data storage area 5 from other personal computers. This processing is basically the same as that described with reference to FIGS. 8, 9, and 11 in the first embodiment, so it will not be repeated here.

However, since the contact list acquisition process according to the first embodiment is performed with the intermediary application, the intermediary application acquires the user device search result from the IP phone application as described in S19 of FIG. 9 . In the case of the second embodiment, the IP telephony application can directly look up user equipment supporting the IP telephony application without going through an intermediate application.

In P22, the IP telephone application 24 performs processing for selecting a receiving terminal and a required function. This processing is basically the same as that described with reference to FIG. 13 in the first embodiment, so it will not be repeated here. However, the processing described in FIG. 13 is performed with an intermediate application, whereas the processing of the second embodiment is performed with an IP telephone application.

After selecting a desired function in this process, the IP telephone application issues a data acquisition command based on the function to the device 2 connected to the personal computer PC1.

In P23, the device 2 acquires data to be processed with the selected function. For example, the device 2 transmits the image data scanned by the device 2 to the IP telephone application 24 of the personal computer PC1.

In P24, the IP telephone application 24 performs processing for generating image data and command data to be transmitted. This processing has already been explained with reference to FIG. 14, so it will not be repeated. However, the processing described in FIG. 14 is executed with an intermediate application, whereas the processing in the second embodiment is executed with an IP telephone application.

In P24, the IP telephone application 24 generates image data and command data to be transmitted based on the type of data to be processed on the target device.

In P25, the IP phone application 24 issues a command to the IP phone application 27 of the device 2 to determine data transmission authorization.

In P26, the IP telephone application 27 monitors incoming data for a command to confirm data transmission authorization. At this time, when such a command is forwarded from the IP phone application 24 and received by the IP phone application 27, the IP phone application 27 detects the command.

In P27, in response to detecting the command to confirm the data transmission authorization received from the IP telephone application 24, the IP telephone application 27 performs a process of specifying a place to save the received data. Next, the IP telephony application 27 issues a command to the IP telephony application 24 to authorize data transmission.

In P28, the IP telephone application 24 monitors incoming data for a command authorizing data transmission, and when such a command is received from the IP telephone application 27, a data transmission authorization command is detected.

In P29, the IP telephone application 24 executes the data transmission function. Specifically, the IP telephone application 24 in FIG. 16 transmits the data acquired in P23 and additional command data representing functions provided on the device 11 from the file transmission unit 6 of the IP telephone application 24 via IP telephone communication. To the file receiving unit 9 of the IP phone application 27. In this way, the personal computer PC1 can transmit data to be effectively used on the target device.

In P30, the IP telephone application 27 waits to send data, and then receives the data sent in P29.

In P31, the IP telephone application 27 interprets the command data among the data received from the IP telephone application 24, and outputs a data processing command of the selected function to the device 11 based on the interpreted command.

In P32, the device 11 performs data processing using the designated function based on the data processing command.

The program can display data related to another network terminal having a function specified by the user, and can effectively utilize processing resources indicated in the displayed data.

In P31 and P32 described above, the device 11 processes the data acquired from the device 2 with the selected function. As a result, the resources of the IP telephone terminals on the data transmission side and the data reception side can be effectively utilized.

As in the first embodiment described above, the personal computer PC1 according to the second embodiment displays the user interface described with reference to FIG. 5 when the user inputs an instruction into the IP telephone application 24 as necessary. Because the user interface of the second embodiment is the same as that of the first embodiment, the difference is only that the user interface is displayed by the IP phone application program 24 rather than by the intermediate application program 3, so the user interface of the IP phone application program 24 is used from this description and omitted from the accompanying drawings.

In addition, the process described in FIG. 6 is performed each time the highlighted display name of the user device changes in the user interface of FIG. 5 .

Here, the processing of FIG. 6 according to the second embodiment will be explained. As in the first embodiment described above, in S12 of FIG. 6 , the IP telephone application 24 acquires the device data of the display name of the highlighted user device from the display name and profile.

In S13, the IP phone application 24 determines whether device data has been successfully acquired. When the device data is acquired successfully (S13: Yes), the IP telephone application 24 proceeds to S15, and when unsuccessful (S13: No), proceeds to S14.

FIG. 19( a ) is a flowchart showing detailed steps of the process of S12 . In S121 of FIG. 19( a ), the IP telephone application 24 determines whether the highlighted display name includes the extracted character string A (example of acquired data) stored in advance.

Fig. 19(b) shows a sample list of extracted character strings. The extracted character string list is stored in advance on the HDD 34 of the personal computer PC1 (see FIG. 17). In the example of FIG. 19( b ), "device" and "pc_" are stored as extracted character strings corresponding to the display names.

As described with reference to FIG. 2, when the display name includes the PC name, such as including "pc_" and "device" representing the device name, there is a high probability that the subsequent part of the display name will include the PC name and the device name.

If the display name includes the extracted character string (S121: Yes), that is, when the IP phone application 24 determines that the PC name and the device name are associated with the display name, in S122, the IP phone application 24 extracts the device name from the immediately following Remove from (or extract from) the string following the string.

In S123, the IP telephone application 24 acquires the extracted character string B corresponding to the extracted character string A detected in the display name, and determines whether the extracted character string B exists in the archive.

If the profile includes the extracted character string B (S123: Yes), in S124 the IP telephone application 24 removes the device name from the character string immediately following the extracted character string, and returns to S15 of FIG. 6 . As mentioned above, character strings representing the capabilities of the device have been added to the device data (see Figure 2).

In other words, through the above-described processing, the IP telephone application 24 can acquire a device name associated with a display name received from another IP telephone terminal via the Internet, and based on the device name, can identify that other IP telephone terminal having the display name can control function. Therefore, the IP telephone application 24 can acquire the device name by a simple process of extracting the device name from the display name, avoiding unnecessary use of processing resources.

However, if the IP telephone application 24 makes a negative determination in S121 or S123 (S121: No or S123: No), ie, cannot acquire device data, the IP telephone application 24 returns to S14 of FIG. 6 .

For example, while device data is included in the profile of the preferred embodiment described above, device data could instead be included in the display name. In this case, instead of determining whether the profile includes the extracted character string B in S123, the IP telephone application 24 may determine whether the display name includes the extracted character string B. When the display name includes the extracted character string B, the IP phone application 24 may be configured to remove device data from the character string in the display name immediately following the extracted character string B in S124.

In a first embodiment, device data may also be included in the display name.

In S14, the IP telephone application program 24 determines whether the device name (see FIG. 2 ) stored in the device data list is included in the highlighted display name, and if so, obtains the device name corresponding to the device name from the device data list. device data.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing detailed steps of the processing in S14 of FIG. 6 . In S141, the IP phone application 24 determines whether the highlighted display name includes one of the device names stored in the device data list.

If the display name does not include the device name stored in the device data list (S141: NO), the processing is terminated. However, if the display name includes one of the device names stored in the device data list (S141: YES), then in S142, the IP telephone application 24 extracts the device name from the display name. The processing in S142 is an example of terminal data acquisition means.

In S143, the IP telephone application 24 acquires the device data corresponding to the extracted device name from the device data list, and then returns to S15 of FIG. 6 .

Since the device name is not included in the profile in the preferred embodiment, it can be determined in S141 whether the profile includes the device name instead of whether the display name includes the device name.

In the first embodiment, it is also possible to determine whether the device name is included in the profile.

As in the first embodiment described above, in S15, the IP phone application 24 is displayed in "Device Data for the Selected User Device" ("Device Data of the Selected User Device") of the user interface shown in FIG. 5 Get the device name and device capabilities.

Like the personal computer PC1 according to the first embodiment, the personal computer PC1 according to the second embodiment can easily use the functions of other IP telephone terminals to effectively utilize the resources of the IP telephone system.

Other IP telephone terminals enable their own IP telephone terminals to receive terminal data identification functions that can be controlled by other IP telephone terminals. Therefore, the user of the own IP telephone terminal can be notified of functions that can be controlled by other IP telephone terminals, and thus can effectively utilize these functions.

Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to specific embodiments, it is obvious that those skilled in the art can make many modifications and changes without departing from the spirit of the present invention. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims. limited.

For example, although in the preferred embodiment, devices connected to a personal computer are described as scanners and printers, the present invention can also be applied to facsimile machines or other devices.

The device may have voice I/O capabilities, such as a speaker and a microphone. The user makes a phone call on the IP phone using a speaker and a microphone provided in the device, and registers device data of the device for making the phone call in the IP phone application.

In this case, the IP telephone application outputs voice data received from another IP telephone terminal through the device's speaker, and transmits voice data input into the device's microphone to the other IP telephone terminal.

Additionally, the IP telephony application and the device are configured to send event messages to the intermediary application, and the intermediary application forwards event messages from the IP telephony application to the device and forwards messages from the device to the IP telephony application.

For example, when an IP telephone application receives a call request from another IP telephone terminal, the IP telephone application transmits a call request event to the device via the intermediary application. If the user operates the device to indicate acceptance of the call, the acceptance event is passed to the IP telephony application, whereupon the phone call is initiated.

When the intermediary application obtains the instruction from the device indicating to accept the call, the application can assume that all determinations in S1-S3 of Fig. 3 are "Yes" ("yes"), and in S4-S7, can record Device data of the device where the instruction to accept the call was initiated by said device in the IP telephony application.

On the other hand, if the user operates the device to input an instruction to find other user devices, the device transmits the search instruction event to the IP phone application via the intermediate application, and the IP phone application sends a request to find the user device through the Internet. After receiving the contact list as a result of this lookup, the IP telephony application transfers the contact list to the device via the intermediary application, which then displays the list on the display unit.

At this point, the user can operate the device to select a call target from the displayed contact list. When the user inputs a call instruction after selecting a contact, the device transmits the call request event to the IP phone application via the intermediate application, and the IP phone application sends the call request to the IP phone terminal at the call target, and then waits for the implementation permission to call.

On the basis of obtaining instructions from the device requesting the phone call, the intermediary application assumes that all determinations in S1-S3 of Figure 3 are "Yes" ("yes"), and in S4-S7, records the device data of the device , wherein the instruction to request a phone call is initiated from the device in an IP telephony application.

Additionally, the user interfaces in Figures 5 and 7 may be incorporated in the device. In this case, the user operates the user interface of FIG. 5 or 7 provided in the device to input an instruction, which is transmitted to the IP phone application via an intermediary application for searching or the like. The user can also operate the user interface in FIG. 7 provided on the device to input an instruction to use a function provided on another IP telephone terminal and transmit the instruction to the intermediate application.

Claims (12)

1. An IP telephone terminal (PC1), comprising: An identification data receiving unit (5), which receives identification data identifying other IP telephone terminals through the Internet; a communication unit (38) that establishes IP telephone communication with other IP telephone terminals identified by the identification data via the Internet; an IP telephone function control unit (31) that controls execution of an IP telephone function for implementing a telephone call with said other IP telephone terminal via said communication unit; a determining unit (S121, S141) that determines said identification data received by said identification data receiving unit; A terminal data acquiring unit (S122, S142), once said determining unit determines that terminal data for identifying functions capable of being controlled by said other IP telephone terminal is associated with said identification data received by said identification data receiving unit, it acquiring terminal data associated with said identification data transmitted from said other IP telephone terminal via said Internet; and a processing data transmission control unit (P9, P29) which controls transmission of processing data to said other IP telephone terminal via said IP telephone communication, wherein said processing data is acquired in said terminal data acquisition unit The data used in the function of terminal data identification described above. 2. The IP telephone terminal according to claim 1, further comprising an acquisition data storage unit (34), which stores acquisition data for acquiring said terminal data; Wherein, when the identification data includes the acquisition data, the determination unit determines that terminal data is associated with the identification data, and the terminal data acquisition unit acquires the terminal data by extracting the terminal data from the identification data. terminal data. 3. The IP telephone terminal according to claim 1, further comprising: a function execution setting unit (P2, P3) which sets the execution of a function capable of being controlled by said other IP telephone terminal; and, a processing data acquisition unit (P4) that acquires the processing data in the format of the function processing to be set by the function execution setting unit; Wherein, the processed data transmission control unit transmits the processed data acquired by the processed data acquisition unit to the other IP telephone terminal. 4. The IP telephone terminal according to claim 3, further comprising: a function selection unit (S35) that selects one of the functions that can be controlled by the other IP telephone terminal from a plurality of functions; and wherein the function execution setting unit sets execution of one of the functions selected by the function selection unit. 5. The IP telephone terminal according to claim 4, wherein said identification data receiving unit receives identification data for identifying each of a plurality of other IP telephone terminals; wherein said terminal data acquiring unit displays terminal data acquired from each of said identification data; wherein said function selection unit selects a function specified by said terminal data displayed by said terminal data acquisition unit; and wherein the processing data transmission control unit transmits the processing data used by the function selected by the function selection unit to the other IP telephone terminal, wherein the other IP telephone terminal transmits the processing data selected by the function selection unit The terminal data. 6. The IP telephone terminal according to claim 5, further comprising a function designation unit (S18), which receives an input of a designation function; wherein the terminal data acquiring unit displays the terminal data for identifying the function specified by the function specifying unit among the terminal data acquired by each of the identification data. 7. The IP telephone terminal according to claim 4, wherein said terminal data acquiring unit displays data of a plurality of functions provided in said other IP telephone terminal which transmits said terminal data; wherein said function selection unit selects a specified function among any of the functions displayed by said terminal data acquisition unit; and wherein the processing data transmission control unit transmits the processing data used by the function selected by the function selection unit to the other IP telephone terminal, wherein the other IP telephone terminal transmits the The terminal data of the function selected by the function selection unit. 8. A method for controlling an IP telephone terminal by a control computer, said IP telephone terminal comprising an identification data receiving unit (5), which receives identification data for identifying other IP telephone terminals through the Internet, a communication unit (38), It establishes IP telephone communication with said other IP telephone terminal identified by said identification data via said Internet, and an IP telephone function control unit (31) which controls a function for communicating with said other IP telephone terminal via said communication unit Execution of an IP telephone function implementing a telephone call, the method comprising causing the computer to function as: a determination unit that determines identification data received by the identification data receiving unit; a terminal data acquisition unit once the determination unit determines that the terminal data for identifying functions controllable by the other IP telephone terminal is associated with the identification data received by the identification data receiving unit which acquires and transmits the identification from the other IP telephone terminal through the Internet data-associated terminal data; and a processing data transmission control unit that controls transmission of processing data to said other IP telephone terminal via said IP telephone communication, wherein said processing data is acquired by said terminal data acquisition unit The data used in the function identified by the terminal data. 9. An IP telephony system (1, 20), comprising: other IP phone terminals on the network (PC2, PC3); and Its own IP telephone terminal (PC1) includes: an identification data receiving unit (5) that receives identification data for identifying said other IP telephone terminal via the Internet; a communication unit (38) that establishes IP telephone communication with said other IP telephone terminal identified by said identification data via said Internet; An IP telephone function control unit (31), which controls the execution of the IP telephone function for implementing a telephone call with the other IP telephone terminals via the communication unit; a determining unit (S121, S141) that determines said identification data received by said identification data receiving unit; a terminal data acquiring unit, once the determining unit determines that the terminal data for identifying the functions controllable by the other IP telephone terminal is associated with the identification data received by the identification data receiving unit, via the Internet, acquires terminal data associated with said identification data sent from said other IP telephony terminal; and a processing data transmission control unit that controls transmission of processing data to said other IP telephone terminal via said IP telephone communication, wherein said processing data is identified in said terminal data acquired by said terminal data acquisition unit the data used in the functions described, and The other IP telephone terminals include: a function recognition unit that recognizes functions capable of being controlled by said other IP telephone terminal; and A registration unit (S11) that registers terminal data for identifying a function recognized by said function recognition unit as data receivable by said own IP telephone terminal through said identification data receiving unit. 10. A method of controlling a computer operable to control a network terminal having an IP telephony application (4, 7, 12) installed which causes the network terminal to function as: an identification data receiving unit (5) which receives identification data for identifying other IP telephone terminals through the Internet, a communication unit (38) which establishes IP telephone communication with said other IP telephone terminals identified by said identification data via said Internet, and an IP telephone function control unit (31) that controls execution of an IP telephone function for implementing a telephone call with said other IP telephone terminal via said communication unit, The method includes causing the computer to function as: a determining unit that determines identification data received by said identification data receiving unit, a terminal data acquisition unit, once the determination unit determines that the terminal data for identifying the functions controllable by the other IP telephone terminal is associated with the identification data received by the identification data receiving unit, which acquires the information related to the terminal data associated with said identification data sent from said other IP telephony terminal; and a processing data transmission control unit that controls transmission of processing data to said other IP telephone terminal via said IP telephone communication by said communication unit, wherein said processing data is received by said terminal data acquisition means The data used in the function identified by the obtained terminal data. 11. An IP telephony system (1, 20), comprising: A plurality of IP telephone terminals, comprising own IP telephone terminal (PCI) and other IP telephone terminals (PC2, PC3), wherein said own IP telephone terminal uses the own IP telephone application program (4, 7) installed in the own IP telephone terminal , 12) and communication unit (38), carry out IP telephone call with described other IP telephone terminal, described communication unit establishes IP telephone communication with other IP telephone terminal through Internet, described other IP telephone terminal possesses identification data receiving unit ( 5) which receives identification data for identifying each of the IP telephone terminals via the Internet, and an IP telephone application program which receives the identification data for identifying each of the IP telephone terminals via the Internet and configured to control execution of an IP telephone function for conducting said telephone call with said other IP telephone terminal through said communication unit; Wherein said own IP phone terminal includes: A determining unit (S121, S142) that determines said identification data received by said identification data receiving unit: A terminal data acquisition unit (S122, S142), once it is determined that the terminal data for identifying the functions controllable by the other IP telephone terminal is associated with the identification data received by the identification data receiving unit, acquires via the Internet terminal data associated with said identification data sent from said other IP telephony terminal; and a processing data transmission control unit that controls transmission of processing data to said other IP telephone terminal via said IP telephone communication performed by said communication unit provided in said own IP telephone terminal , wherein said processing data is data used in said function identified by said terminal data acquired by said terminal data acquiring unit, and The other IP telephone terminals include: a function recognition unit that recognizes functions capable of being controlled by said other IP telephone terminal; and A registration unit (S11) that registers terminal data for identifying functions recognized by the function recognition unit as data receivable by the own IP phone application program to the IP phones installed in the other IP phone terminals in the application. 12. A method of controlling an IP telephone system (1, 20) for, via an own IP telephone application installed on an own network terminal, between said own network terminal and other network terminals on the network or connected to Implementation of IP telephone calls between other telephone terminals of said other network terminals, said IP telephone calls are carried out with a communication unit (38) and its own IP telephone application program (4, 7, 12), and said communication unit communicates with Said other network terminal or said other telephone terminal connected to said other network terminal having an identification data receiving unit (5) which receives via said Internet via said other network terminal an IP telephone communication identification data for identifying each of said network terminals, and said IP telephone application program receives said identification data for identifying each of said other telephone terminals via said Internet and is configured to control the execution of an IP telephony function by the communication unit for making a telephone call with said other network terminal or with another telephone terminal connected to said other network terminal; Wherein in the own network terminal, the method includes determining said identification data received by said identification data receiving unit, When it is determined that terminal data for identifying a function capable of being controlled by the other network terminal or the other telephone terminal connected to the other network terminal is associated with the identification data, obtaining information from the other telephone through the Internet Terminal data associated with the identification data sent by the terminal; and controlling the transmission of processing data to said other network terminal or said other telephone terminal connected to said other network terminal via said IP telephone communication by said other network terminal provided in said own network terminal communication unit, wherein said processing data is data used in said function identified by said terminal data acquired by the step of acquiring terminal data, and Wherein in said other network terminal or said other telephone terminal connected to said other network terminal, said method comprises the following steps: Recognizing functions capable of being controlled by said other network terminal or said other telephone terminal connected to said other network terminal; and registering the terminal data for identifying the recognized function as data receivable by the own IP application to the IP address of the other telephone terminal installed on the other network terminal or connected to the other network terminal in the phone application. the

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