JP3304887B2 - User status search notification method, user status search method, user status search server device, user status search client terminal device, and their program recording medium - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] The present invention relates to a user ID of a user in an information communication system via a network.
By searching using (identification information) as a key, a plurality of communication tools possessed by the user and a user status search notification method for searching the usage status thereof,
The present invention relates to a user status search method, a user status search server device, a user status search client terminal device, and their program recording media.

[0002] A communication tool is a client program for communication between people. Some of such client programs are compatible with multi-users, while others are not.

[0005] A tool corresponding to multi-user means a tool capable of one-to-many communication, and a tool not corresponding to multi-user means a tool created for one-to-one communication.

[0004]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a server manages the status of online or offline on a network by using I / O.
Some are described in CQ (http://www.mirabilis.com/) or the like. The server manages the status of “active” and “in use” by the telephone directory service (Watanabe et al., “Telephone Directory System for Internet Telephones” Large B8-91, 19
(March 1997).

[0005] "Starting" means that the client program is running and can be connected to the client program of the other party. "In use" means that the client program supports multi-users, that is, in the case of one-to-many communication, the client is sending a conversation message to the server. On the other hand, when the client program does not support multi-users, that is, in the case of one-to-one communication, it means that a conversation message is being transmitted or received from the client to the server.

[0006]

The prior art ICQ is:
You can make a request to start the communication tool you own to the person you want to communicate with, but you do not know if the other person has the communication tool, so you can start which communication tool There was a problem that it was not possible to determine whether to make a request.

In the above-mentioned telephone directory service, it is necessary to perform user registration on each telephone directory service for each different Internet telephone service. In order to know the use status of tools in different services, a plurality of user IDs are required. There was a problem.

[0008] For this reason, in the prior art, when all communication tools published on a network are used as targets, the usage status of the communication tool of the other party is determined based on one user ID in determining which tool to use. There was a problem that it was difficult to determine which communication tool to use because it was not possible to search for.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to identify a communication tool possessed by a communication partner and a communication tool name possessed by the communication partner based on a user ID of the communication partner to be able to determine which communication tool to use for the partner. It is an object to provide a means for searching the usage status.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a server with a means for managing the "communication tool main body or the URL of a homepage from which the tool main body can be obtained" so that a communication tool possessed by a communication partner can be easily obtained. It is to provide a means.

[0011]

In the present invention SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above problems, in the way you find the status of a user carrying the communication tool running on a terminal that can connect to the network, the "user ID" The server manages the "communication tool name owned by the user on his / her own terminal" and the "communication tool usage status" registered and registered on the client. Alternatively, the server manages “acquisition information such as the URL of a homepage from which the tool body can be acquired”. By managing these user information on the server, when using all communication tools published on the network as targets, it is possible to determine which communication tool to use from one user ID to communicate with the other party. It becomes possible to search the usage status of the tool.

In addition, since the server manages the “communication tool body owned by the user in his / her own terminal or the URL of the homepage from which the tool body can be acquired”, the client can easily obtain the communication tool possessed by the other party. Becomes

[0013] The terminal of each client identifies the usage status of the communication tool in its own terminal and registers it with the server at any time or periodically, so that the server manages the latest “communication tool usage status” for each user. be able to.

A program for realizing each of the above processing means by a computer of a server device or a client terminal device can be stored in an appropriate recording medium such as a portable medium memory, a semiconductor memory, and a hard disk which can be read by the computer. it can.

[0015] The ICQ of the prior art is different in that the server manages the "communication tool main body (or information for acquiring the communication tool) owned by the user" and the "communication tool name owned by the user". Also, it differs from the conventional telephone directory service in that it manages “plural tools”.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of the entire system of the present invention. In FIG.
Reference numerals 2, 2 'denote client terminals, and reference numeral 3 denotes a network.

The user status search server 1 is connected to each terminal 2,
It manages the user ID of the user who uses 2 ', the name of the communication tool possessed by the user, and the usage status of the communication tool, and downloads the communication tool itself when client terminals 2 and 2' are required. Store and manage the communication tool itself so that it can be used. Alternatively, it manages the URL of the homepage from which the communication tool itself can be obtained.

On the terminals 2 and 2 ', a client program for identifying a situation in which the user is using the communication tool and for retrieving the situation of the user when necessary is installed.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the user status search server 1. The device control unit 10 is a unit that controls the entire device by an operating system or the like. The network interface unit 11 is a connection interface with the network 3 shown in FIG. The communication control unit 12 controls transmission and reception of data with other devices via the network 3. The command analysis unit 13 analyzes a command described in the received data and decodes a request from another device.

The user status search means 14 is a means for managing the user status, searching for and notifying the user status in response to a request from the client terminal, and has the following means.
The control unit 15 is a part that performs control for user status search. The user status management means 16 stores the "user ID"
And a user status management file 20 having information that associates the “communication tool name possessed by the user with the terminal” with the registered “communication tool use status” identified on the client and manages the user status. It is a means for registering and searching for. The user status data creating unit 17 is a unit that creates data for notifying the user status read from the user status management file 20 via the user status management unit 16 in response to a user status search request from the terminal. Create transmission packet
The sending unit 18 packetizes the user situation data created by the user situation data creating unit 17 and sends the packet to the communication control unit 1.
2 means for transmitting the request to the requesting terminal.

Communication tool storage means 19
Is a means for storing and managing a communication tool body owned by a user registered in the user status management file 20 in a communication tool storage database (DB) 21.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the terminal 2 shown in FIG. The same applies to the other terminals 2 'and the like. The device control unit 30 controls the entire device by an operating system or the like. The network interface unit 31 is a connection interface with the network 3 shown in FIG. The communication control unit 32 controls transmission and reception of data with another device via the network 3.

The user status transmission / inquiry means 33
Means for notifying the user status search server 1 of the status of the user such as the usage status of the communication tool at the terminal at any time or periodically, and performing a process of inquiring the status of the other user to the user status search server 1; It has the following means.

The control means 34 is a part for performing control for notifying the use status of the communication tool and the like and inquiring the user status. User situation data creation means 3
Reference numeral 5 denotes a means for identifying the use status of the communication tool possessed by the terminal at any time or periodically and creating the data. The packet creation / transmission / packet reception means 36 packetizes the data created by the user situation data creation means 35, transmits the data to the user situation search server 1 via the communication control unit 32, and a packet arriving from the outside to its own device. Is a means for receiving

The user status inquiry means 37 is a means for designating the user ID of the partner with whom communication is desired and inquiring the user status search server 1 about the status of the user. The user information management file 39 is a file that holds the status of the user. The download request means 38 is a means for requesting the user status search server 1 to download the communication tool used by the user inquired by the user status inquiry means 37 when the own device does not have the communication tool. This download request may be made directly to the user status search server 1 or may be made by accessing the URL of a homepage from which the communication tool itself can be obtained.

The terminal 2 has a display 40 and a mouse 4
1, general input / output devices such as a keyboard 42 are connected. Furthermore, a camera for a videophone or the like may be connected.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the user status managed by the user status search server 1. As shown in FIG. 4A, the user status management means 16 of the user status search server 1 transmits a user ID for identifying each user, a communication tool name possessed by the user, whether the tool is running, Correspondence information on the usage status of whether or not the terminal is being used is managed by reports from each terminal. As shown in FIG. 4B, the communication tool storage means 19 of the user situation search server 1 stores the tool name of the communication tool possessed by each user and the communication tool storage D of the tool itself.
It manages information stored in B21 or information corresponding to URL information of a homepage from which the tool body can be obtained.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the user status list. The user status inquiry means 37 of the terminal 2 transmits, for example, “12
When a user status inquiry is made to the user status search server 1 by designating a user ID of 3456 ", the communication tool name of the other party, and information on whether the communication tool is running or in use is notified. Is displayed in a list as shown in Fig. 5. When the user wants to obtain the communication tool possessed by the other party, the user can specify the tool on the list so that the user status search server 1 Can be downloaded.

FIG. 6 is a processing flowchart for registering the usage status of the user from the client terminal 2 to the user status search server 1. In FIG. 6, the process starts (step S1), and the user status transmission / inquiry means 3
3 (step S)
2), connect to the user status search server 1 (step S)
3). Thereafter, the user status data creating means 35 identifies the usage status of the communication tool (step S4), and registers the usage status of the user in the user status search server 1 (step S5). Thereafter, it is determined whether a predetermined time n seconds has elapsed (Step S).
6) If the time has elapsed, the process returns to immediately before step S4, and similarly, the identification of the usage status and the registration to the user status search server 1 are repeated. If not, wait until n seconds have elapsed. According to the above-described processing procedure, the latest usage status can be notified to the user status search server 1 even when the usage status changes.

FIG. 7 is a processing flowchart relating to the use status identification of the communication tool in step S4 of FIG. In FIG. 7, when the processing is started (step S11), first, a tool execution file name in the own device is searched to identify a communication tool possessed by the client (step S12). next,
Whether or not the communication tool is currently running is identified based on whether or not the communication tool execution file is currently being executed (step S13).

It is determined whether the communication tool is compatible with a multi-user (step S1).
4) If the communication tool is compatible with multi-users, whether the communication tool is in use is determined by whether the communication tool transmits character, voice, and image data to the user status search server 1. (Step S15). On the other hand, if the communication tool does not support multi-users, it identifies whether the communication tool is in use by transmitting or receiving text, voice, and image data to and from the communication partner. (Step S16).

Based on the above identification results, transmission information is selected if necessary, data on the use status of the communication tool is created, and a packet for notifying the user status search server 1 of the user status is created based on the data. (Step S17), and terminates the process (step S18).

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a process of searching for a user status using a user ID as a key, displaying a user status list, and communicating with a partner using a communication tool.

In FIG. 8, the processing is started (step S
21), input the user ID of the user to be searched (step S22), and inquire of the user status to the user status search server 1 by specifying the user ID to search for the status of the partner user (step S23). .
A user status list is displayed based on the received user status information (step S24), and the user is allowed to select a communication tool for communicating with the other party based on the user status list (step S2).
5).

For example, when there is an urgent question,
By knowing the user status list as shown in FIG. 5, it is possible to determine that the communication tool that can surely make contact with the other party is a multi-user character chat tool in use. Although the Internet phone and the Internet TV phone are running, the other party is likely to be ignored because the other party is using the text chat tool. In addition, although the e-mail receiving tool is running, it is uneasy whether a reply will be sent immediately. Finally,
By knowing the user status, it is possible to select a character chat tool that can reliably make contact.

Here, it is determined whether the user has the selected communication tool (step S2).
6) If there is, use the communication tool to communicate (step S29),
The process ends (step S30). If not, the user is inquired as to whether or not to obtain the communication tool possessed by the other party (step S2).
7) If it is obtained, the communication tool is downloaded from the user situation search server 1 (step S28), and communication with the other party is performed using the communication tool (step S29), and the process is terminated (step S30). If not,
The process ends as it is (step S30).

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a process of managing user status and storing communication tools in the user status search server 1. In FIG. 9, the process starts (step S31), and it is determined whether or not the packet received from the client is related to a new user registration (step S32). If the packet is a new user registration, the process proceeds to step S33. If not, the process proceeds to step S40.

If it is a new user registration, the user ID and the communication tool name possessed by the user are acquired and registered in the user status management file 20 (step S33). Next, it is checked whether or not the communication tool main body has been registered in the communication tool storage DB 21 (step S34). If the communication tool main body has been registered, the process is terminated (step S42). Note that whether the communication tool itself has been registered
If necessary, check the version number (version number).

If the communication tool has not been registered, it is determined whether to receive the communication tool from another device or to obtain a URL from which the communication tool can be obtained (step S35). The communication tool is received from the client or another management server (step S36), and the received communication tool is registered in the communication tool storage DB 21 (step S37). If the communication tool main body is not received, the URL of the homepage from which the communication tool main body can be obtained is obtained from the client or the like (step S38).

Thereafter, information for associating the communication tool name with the information stored in the communication tool itself or the URL from which the information can be obtained is created (step S39), and the process is terminated (step S4).
2). When managing the URL of a homepage for acquiring the communication tool management information as the communication tool management information, the communication tool body may be in the user status search server 1 or in another device.

If the received information is not a registration of a new user, it is determined whether or not it is an update registration of the user status (step S40). If not, the process is terminated (step S42). In the case of the update registration of the user status, the use status of the communication tool of the corresponding user ID is updated based on the received information (step S41), and the process ends (step S42).

[0042]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The server manages the "user ID", "the name of the communication tool owned by the user on the user's terminal", and "the usage status of the communication tool", and "can acquire the communication tool itself or the communication tool itself owned by the user." One user ID by managing "URL of homepage"
The user can search for the “communication tool name” possessed by the user and its “usage status”. Further, a communication tool possessed by the partner but not possessed by the other party can be downloaded from the server as needed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an entire user situation search system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a user status search server.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a terminal.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user status managed by a user status search server.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a user status list.

FIG. 6 is a processing flowchart when a user's usage status is registered from a client terminal to a user status search server.

FIG. 7 is a processing flowchart relating to identification of the usage status of the communication tool.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a user status search and communication process using a communication tool.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a process of managing user status and storing communication tools in the user status search server.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 user status search server 2, 2 'terminal 3 network

Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-8-125830 (JP, A) Yuko Sakuma, License Management and Cost Reduction by Metering, Software Design, Japan, Technical Review Co., Ltd., February 1998 18, No. 88, 190-193, CSNW199800016009 (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) G06F 13/00 G06F 15/00 G06F 17/30 G06F 9/06 G06F 9/445

Claims (10)

(57) [Claims] Claims: 1. Using a communication tool,
Network with multiple client terminal devices that communicate with each other
Network, and can be connected via the client terminal device.
A user who has a communication tool that starts on the desktop
User status performed by server device to search user status
The server device , wherein the server device includes a user ID including a user ID of each user, a communication tool name possessed by each user at its own terminal, and information on the use status of the communication tool; It manages information for acquiring the tool body, the other client terminal from the client terminal device
With respect to the user situation inquiry relates to an apparatus, the service
User situation detection, characterized in that over server apparatus notifies searches the user status of the other client terminal device which manages
Search notification method. 2. The server device according to claim 1 , wherein
From the device, the client terminal device of the searched partner is
When a communication tool is required,
The client who requested the communication tool
2. The user status search notification method according to claim 1, wherein the user status search notification is downloaded to a client terminal device . 3. The method using a communication tool.
Multiple client terminal devices that communicate with each other
For managing the status of users of each client terminal device
Server devices and the network to connect them
User terminal in the system
User status search method, usage status of communication tools possessed by own terminal
The user status including information about the user to the server device
And registering the user status with respect to another client terminal device.
Querying the server device and the user status obtained from the server device.
Use the communication tool notified in the user status.
For communicating with another client terminal device by using
And a user status search method. 4. The client terminal device according to claim 1 , wherein
Communication tool book based on user status
If you need the body
Claims characterized by downloading from a server device
Item 3. The user status search method according to Item 3. 5. Use of a communication tool to perform
Network with multiple client terminal devices that communicate with each other
Network, and can be connected via the client terminal device.
A server apparatus for searching status of the user carrying the communication tools running on location, usage information of the communication tools name and communication tools each user of the user ID and the user possesses the own terminal Means for managing the user status including, and the communication tool body or information for acquiring the tool body, and another client terminal from the client terminal device
Means for searching and notifying the user status in response to an inquiry about the user status relating to the device. 6. A method for retrieving from the client terminal device.
The communication possessed by the client terminal device
Communication tools when requested.
Application tool to the requesting client terminal.
Claims, characterized in that it comprises means for downloading
5. The user status search server device according to 5. 7. Use of a communication tool to make an
Multiple client terminal devices that communicate with each other
For managing the status of users of each client terminal device
Server devices and the network to connect them
A client terminal apparatus in a system having the server device user situation and to a means for the user status register transmits to the server device, another client terminal device including the usage information communication tool to which the own terminal possessed Means based on the user status obtained from the server device.
Use the communication tool notified in the user status.
Means for communicating with other client terminal devices using
User status search client terminal apparatus, characterized in that it comprises. 8. A communication system based on the acquired user status.
If the communication tool itself is needed,
Download the application tool from the server device.
9. The user according to claim 7, further comprising:
Status search client terminal. 9. The user status according to claim 1 or claim 2.
Causing the computer of the server device to execute the status search notification method.
User status search server program recording medium characterized by recording the order of the program. 10. The user according to claim 3 or claim 4.
The situation search method is applied to the computer of the client terminal device.
A program recording medium for a user status search client, wherein a program to be executed is recorded .