JP2003303143A - Session transfer method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a selection method for an application and a terminal in a session transfer realizing the general-purpose session transfer with high convenience. <P>SOLUTION: This communication system can transfer the session from a transfer origin terminal 1 to a transfer destination terminal during the communication of the transfer origin terminal 1 to another communication destination terminal via a network. The transfer origin terminal 1 obtains communication information, contents information, and the like from the API (Application Program Interface) and the OS of the application under communication (301-309) and transmits an application booting command including the obtained information to the transfer destination terminal (310). On the other hand, after the transfer destination terminal boots the application using the API of the application using the obtained information, the transfer operation is started (311-) so as to enable the session transfer with high convenience. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a session transfer method, and more particularly to a technique for selecting an application and a terminal in session transfer for moving an application of a mobile terminal in communication to another terminal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Today, in addition to the popularization of personal computers, a variety of terminals having a communication function such as an information system single terminal (PDA) have become popular, and such terminals are selectively used according to the purpose and situation. Is needed. In the future, it will be possible to transfer a session to another terminal by a simple method while maintaining the normal state of communication while an application is communicating with another terminal on the terminal in the situation where the terminal is used properly. It is considered that a method for

Conventionally, as a mechanism for transferring communication, there is a transfer telephone utilizing the functions of an exchange or a telephone terminal, and disconnection / reconnection is performed by inputting address information (telephone number) of the transfer destination from the terminal. Instead, it realizes transfer while continuing communication. Similarly, as a method for transferring a multimedia session such as a videophone, ITU 45
0.2 (Call Transfer Supplementary Services for for
H.323) and IETF draft (SIP Call Control Tra
nsfer)). Similarly, with these methods, transfer destination address information (E.164 telephone number, U
RL, IP address, etc.) are input from the terminal to realize transfer with communication connected without disconnecting / reconnecting.

[0004]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] However, ITU
450.2 (Call Transfer Supplementary Services fo
r H.323) and IETF draft (SIP Call Control)
The conventional technique defined by Transfer) has the following problems. First, it is necessary to start the application on the transfer destination terminal in advance before starting the transfer. This is a big limitation. Secondly, the user needs to determine to which application on the transfer destination terminal the application on the transfer source terminal can transfer each time the transfer is performed. This is also a heavy burden on the user. Thirdly, there is no means for displaying and selecting a transferable terminal on the transfer source terminal, which makes the operation inconvenient.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for selecting an application and a terminal for session transfer, which solves the above-mentioned problems in the prior art and realizes highly convenient general-purpose session transfer. .

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, a method of selecting an application and a terminal in session transfer according to the present invention is performed between terminals that transfer a session when there is an application in communication on the terminal. Then, the information about the application is exchanged, the terminal having the transferable application is selected, and the application of the transfer destination is activated in the transfer procedure.

More specifically, in the session transfer method according to claim 1 of the present invention, another transfer is performed from the transfer source terminal 1 while the transfer source terminal 1 is communicating with another communication destination terminal via the network. In a communication system capable of transferring a session during communication to a destination terminal, the transfer source terminal 1 acquires communication information, content information, etc. from the API or OS of the application being communicated (301 to 309), and transfers the transfer destination. An application activation instruction including the acquired information is transmitted to the terminal (310), and the transfer destination terminal starts the application by using the acquired information and using the API of the application, and then starts the transfer operation. (311
It is characterized in that it enables highly convenient session transfer. It is characterized by

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the session transfer method according to the first aspect, the state of the communication application running on the transfer source terminal is acquired from the OS and displayed on the screen to display a plurality of applications. Is communicating, the user is allowed to select an application to be transferred, which enables highly convenient session transfer. According to the method of claim 3, claim 1
Alternatively, in the session transfer method described in item 2, the transfer destination terminal searches for the installed communication application, displays it on the screen, and the user selects the transfer destination application to enable highly convenient session transfer. It is characterized by

Further, in the method according to claim 4, in the session transfer method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, it is possible to determine in advance an identifier representing an application that can transfer each other, and transfer using this identifier. It is characterized by enabling highly convenient session transfer by automatically determining the appropriate application or by the user's selection. In the method according to claim 5, in the session transfer method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, correspondence between an installed application and an identifier representing the mutually transferable application on a transfer source terminal and a transfer destination terminal is provided. By describing them in the setting file and referencing them at the time of transfer, the application that can be transferred to the transfer destination terminal is searched for each application that is communicating with the transfer source terminal, and the transfer destination application is automatically or selected by the user. It is characterized by enabling highly convenient session transfer by deciding.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the first to fourth aspects.
In the session transfer method described in (1), when the user has a plurality of transfer destination terminal candidates, a search is made for a terminal in which a transferable application is installed, for each application running on the transfer source terminal, and the automatic or user By selecting the transfer destination application and the transfer destination terminal by selecting, the highly convenient session transfer becomes possible. The session transfer method according to the present invention is
It is needless to say that this can be executed by computer control, and the scope of the rights of the present invention extends to a program used for this control, or a computer-readable recording medium recording this program. Absent.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the preferred embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a connection configuration of each device of a communication system embodying a session transfer method according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1, 2 and 4 are PCs (personal computers), 3 are PDAs (mobile terminals), 5
Is a streaming server, 6 is a web server, and 7 is a wireless L
An access point of an AN (IEEE802.11b, etc.), 8 indicates a network connecting them. Here, consider a case where a communication session is transferred from the PC (transfer source terminal) 1 to the PDA (transfer destination terminal) 4 while the PC (transfer source terminal) 1 and the PC (communication destination terminal) 2 are communicating. This corresponds to, for example, a case where a user communicating with a PC transfers a session to a PDA in order to move from place to place while continuing communication.

In FIG. 1, the transfer source terminal 1, the transfer destination terminal 3, and the transfer destination terminal 4 are each set with data in a setting file as shown in FIG. In FIG.
APL-ID is an identifier representing an application that can be transferred to each other. For example, as video conferencing software that can be transferred to each other, Net Meeting, Pocketbone, Gnome Meet
APL-ID: 000001 is given to ing, APL-ID: 000002 is given to streaming software Media Player, and APL- is given to Internet Explorer of a web browser.
ID: 000003 is given. In addition, the installed directory is set to start each application.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration example of the communication destination terminal and the transfer source terminal / transfer destination terminal when the session transfer method according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied. In FIG. 2, 201 indicates a transfer source terminal or a transfer destination terminal, and 202 indicates a communication destination terminal. Also, 203
207 indicates the details of the transfer source terminal or the transfer destination terminal, and 203 indicates an OS (Operating System), 20
Reference numeral 4 denotes an application control function for activating a communication application, acquiring a communication state, and content information.
5 is Net Meeting, Media Player, Internet Ex
A communication application such as a ploorer, 206 is a transfer control function for controlling transfer of the communication application, and 207 is a transfer destination selecting function for selecting a transfer destination from the information of the setting file, the communication state of the application, and the like. 20
Reference numeral 8 denotes a setting file in which the contents as shown in FIG. 4 are recorded.

Reference numerals 209 to 211 indicate details of communication destination terminals, 209 is an OS), and 210 is Net Meetin.
g, Media Player, Internet Explorer, and other communication applications; and 211, a transfer control function for performing transfer control of the communication application. The application control function 204 and the transfer control function 20 in FIG.
6 and 211 and the transfer destination selection function 207 are characteristic functions in the session transfer method according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a processing sequence diagram of the session transfer processing according to the embodiment. In this embodiment, first, the transfer source terminal and the communication destination terminal are in communication with each other by an application such as a videophone (301). Here, when the user gives a session transfer start instruction by an operation on the transfer source terminal in order to transfer the communicating APL (application) to another terminal (302), the transfer source terminal searches for a communication application in communication. (303), the APL-ID is acquired by referring to the setting file of FIG.
4) The terminal information request including the APL-ID is transmitted to the transfer destination terminal (305).

The transfer destination terminal refers to the setting file (306), and if there is a match with the transmitted APL-ID, the installed source APL name and APL-ID are transferred to the transfer source terminal. A response including is sent (307). The transfer destination terminal displays a screen as shown in FIG. FIG. 5 shows a screen when a plurality of applications are communicating with the transfer destination terminal and terminal information requests are issued to the plurality of terminals.
For t Meeting, the Pocketbone of the transfer destination terminal 1,
It can be seen that Gnome Meeting of the transfer destination terminal 2 can be selected as the transfer destination.

Here, when the user operates the terminal to select a transferable terminal and an application (308), the transfer destination terminal uses the API of the application being communicated or the communication state from the OS as handover information (eg: Information about the communication destination terminal (in communication with 192.168.0.31), content, and the like are acquired (309), and an application activation instruction including transfer information is transmitted to the transfer destination terminal (310).

In the transfer destination terminal, the transfer destination communication application is started from the installation directory in the setting file of FIG. 4 by using this takeover information (3
11). Then, after starting the application, a start completion notification is transmitted to the transfer source terminal (312). The transfer source terminal issues a transfer instruction to the communication destination terminal (313), and the communication destination terminal transmits a response to the transfer destination terminal (31).
4). Also, the communication destination terminal calls the transfer source terminal (31
5), the intermediate response (316) and the response (31
7) is received. Then, the communication destination terminal transmits a completion notice to the transfer source terminal (318) and receives the response (319) from the transfer source terminal. The transfer source terminal transmits a disconnection instruction to the communication destination terminal (320), and the response (32
The session transfer is completed by receiving 1).

Here, in the processing sequence of FIG. 3, all the communication between the transfer source terminal and the transfer destination terminal is performed via the network. However, for example, a part of the terminal information request and its response is I.
It is also possible to use short-range wireless communication such as rDA or Bluetooth. Thus, for example, when the address of the transfer destination terminal is not known in advance, the highly convenient session transfer becomes possible by including the network address of the transfer destination terminal in the response to the terminal information request.

Further, in the processing sequence of FIG. 3, all the applications in communication are first searched and the transfer destination is displayed at one time on the transfer source terminal as shown in FIG. It is also possible to select the APL to be processed, send the APL-ID to the transfer destination terminal in response to the terminal information request, and display only the terminal matching the APL-ID at the session transfer destination. Further, in the processing sequence of FIG. 3, the transfer procedure after the transfer instruction is ITU 450.2 (Call Transfer Supplement) in the case of a video conference.
ary Services for H.323) and IETF draft (SIP
Call Control 1 Transfer) may be used.

In FIG. 1, the transfer destination terminal is the Media Player.
Streaming server 5 and Internet Explorer
When transferring a session being communicated with the Web server 6 by er, the server address and viewing time etc. for streaming and the URL etc. for Web are used as the takeover information, and the transfer source terminal instructs the transfer destination terminal to connect. By transmitting, the same session transfer can be realized.

The above embodiment is an example of the present invention, and the present invention should not be limited to this. Appropriate changes and modifications are possible without departing from the gist of the present invention.
Needless to say, improvements may be made.

[0024]

As described above in detail, according to the present invention, when there is an application in communication on a terminal, information relating to the application can be exchanged and transferred between the terminals transferring the session. By selecting a terminal having such an application and activating the application of the transfer destination in the transfer procedure, it is possible to achieve a highly convenient and versatile session transfer. With these, for example, during communication such as video call / video conference / streaming on the office PC,
It is possible to use such as transferring the session to the PDA and going out, and there is also an effect that a highly convenient network use environment using a plurality of terminals can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a connection configuration of each device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block explanatory diagram of a communication destination terminal and a movement source terminal / destination terminal according to an embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a processing sequence according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of data of a setting file according to an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a selection screen of a session source terminal according to an embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Transfer source terminal 2 Communication destination terminal 3 Transfer destination terminal 1 4 Transfer destination terminal 2 201 Source / destination terminal 202 Communication destination terminal 203,209 OS 204 Application control function 205,210 Communication application 206, 211 Transfer control function 207 Transfer destination selection function 208 configuration file 301-321 processing steps

Continued front page    (72) Inventor Takao Nakanishi             2-3-1, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo             Inside Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Hirokuni Aiura             2-3-1, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo             Inside Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (72) Inventor Takaho Shibata             2-3-1, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo             Inside Telegraph and Telephone Corporation F-term (reference) 5B085 AA03 AA08                 5B089 GA25 GB01 KC22 KC44 KG03

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A communication which enables a session transfer during communication from the transfer source terminal to a transfer destination terminal different from the transfer source terminal while the transfer source terminal is communicating with the communication destination terminal via a network with a communication application. In the system, the transfer source terminal acquires information such as communication status and content information from the communication application in communication, transmits to the transfer destination terminal an application start instruction including the acquired information, The transfer destination terminal uses the received information to start the communication application using the API of the communication application, and then transmits a communication application start notification to the transfer source terminal, and the transfer source terminal A session transfer method characterized by starting a transfer operation in response to this. 2. The transfer source terminal acquires communication states of all communication applications from APIs and OSs and displays the communication states on the screen of the transfer source terminal. When a plurality of communication applications are in communication, transfer is performed. The session transfer method according to claim 1, further comprising causing a user to select a communication application. 3. When there are a plurality of communication application candidates as transfer destinations on the transfer destination terminal, the transfer source terminal selects the transfer application after the user selects an application to transfer at the transfer source terminal. The terminal transmits information for identifying the application, the transfer destination terminal searches for the installed communication application, and transmits to the transfer source terminal, the transfer source terminal displays this information on the screen, and 3. The session transfer method according to claim 1, wherein the transfer destination communication application is selected and a communication application start instruction is transmitted to the transfer destination terminal. 4. An identifier representing mutually transferable applications is determined in advance, and using this, the communication application of the transfer destination terminal to be transferred from the communication application of the transfer source terminal is determined automatically or by user selection. The session transfer method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, which is characterized. 5. A correspondence between an application installed on the transfer source terminal and the transfer destination terminal and an identifier representing the mutually transferable application is described in a setting file, and these are referred to at the time of transfer. 5. The transfer destination application is searched for each application being communicated with the transfer source terminal, and the transfer destination application is determined automatically or by the user's selection. The session transfer method according to any one of items. 6. When a user has a plurality of candidates for the transfer destination terminal, a terminal in which a transferable application is installed is searched for for each application running on the transfer source terminal, and the automatic or user operation is performed. 6. The session transfer method according to claim 1, wherein the transfer destination terminal and the transfer destination application are determined by the selection.