Multipoint conference device and switching method from multipoint conference to point-to-point communication

A conference call terminal and a method of switching from a conference call to a one-to-one call in the terminal

The present invention relates to the technology of a conference call over a network.

As the number of terminals such as smartphones and tablets using wireless networks increases worldwide, Multimedia over IP (MoIP) services using mobile communication networks such as 3G and LTE networks and wireless Internet networks (WiFi networks) are also expanding.

A method of providing MoIP service on a network can be largely divided into a peer-to-peer (P2P) method and a server relay method. The peer-to-peer method provides a MoIP service through direct connection between terminals, and is mainly used for one-to-one voice/video calls. In addition, the server relay method is a method in which each terminal connects to a separate server such as an MCU (Multipoint Conference Unit), and the connected server mixes and provides the participants' voices and images, and is mainly used for multi-party calls of three or more participants.

As such, in the MoIP service, the one-to-one call and the multi-party call are different in the method of providing the service, and the protocol used to provide the service is also different. In the case of converting to a one-to-one call, disconnection occurs in the process of terminating the existing conference call and creating a separate one-to-one call. Accordingly, there is a need for a conversion method that minimizes disconnection when converting a multiway call between terminals into a one-to-one call.

<p>SUMMARY Embodiments of the present invention are intended to provide an efficient means for converting a conference call between terminals into a one-to-one call. </p>

<p>According to an embodiment of the present invention for solving the above problems, a method for converting a conference call to a one-to-one call is a method for a terminal to convert the conference call to a one-to-one call during a conference call with a plurality of other participant terminals, sharing, in the terminal, peer-to-peer access information of the terminal and peer-to-peer access information of each of the plurality of other participant terminals with the plurality of other participant terminals, and in the terminal, the multiway call and converting the conference call into a one-to-one call using peer-to-peer access information of other participant terminals remaining in the conference call when the total number of participants in the conference call is reduced to two.</p><p>On the other hand, a conference call terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention for solving the above problems, as a terminal including a memory for storing a program code and one or more processors for executing the program code, the program code, In order for the terminal to convert the conference call into a one-to-one call during a conference call with a plurality of other participant terminals, peer-to-peer connection information of the terminal and peer-to-peer connection information of each of the plurality of other participant terminals is shared with the plurality of other participant terminals, and in the terminal, when the total number of participants in the conference call is reduced to two, peer-to-peer access information of other participant terminals remaining in the conference call This is to perform processes including the process of converting the multiway call into a one-to-one call using the . </p>

<p>According to the embodiments of the present invention, by sharing the peer-to-peer connection information of each participant in advance during the execution of the conference call, the conference call can be quickly converted into a one-to-one call, and at the same time, the user can The sense of disconnection can be minimized. </p>

1 is a block diagram illustrating a conference call system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method 200 for switching from a conference call to a one-to-one call according to an embodiment of the present invention. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method 300 for switching from a conference call to a one-to-one call according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, this is merely an example and the present invention is not limited thereto.

In the description of the present invention, if it is determined that the detailed description of the known technology related to the present invention may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention, the detailed description thereof will be omitted. And, the terms to be described later are terms defined in consideration of functions in the present invention, which may vary according to intentions or customs of users and operators. Therefore, the definition should be made based on the content throughout this specification.

The technical spirit of the present invention is determined by the claims, and the following examples are only one means for effectively explaining the technical spirit of the present invention to those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention belongs.

1 is a block diagram illustrating a conference call system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the conference call system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a calling terminal 102, a called terminal 1 104, a called terminal 2 106, a relay server 108, and a conference server ( 110). However, in the case of the illustrated embodiment, the terminal participating in the multiway call is to explain an example in which three units of the calling terminal 102 , the called terminal 1 104 and the called terminal 2 106 are configured. Note that the number of called terminals may vary depending on the number of .

Each of the above-described components is configured to transmit and receive messages or data to each other via the network 112 . In the embodiment of the present invention, the network 112 is a medium for relaying the transmission and reception of messages or data of each component of the multiparty communication system 100, for example, a mobile communication network such as a 3G or LTE network, a wired/wireless Internet network, etc. It may include any type of communication network capable of packet communication.

The calling terminal 102 , the called terminal 1 104 , and the called terminal 2 106 are terminals used by users of the multiparty conference service provided by the conference call system 100 , for example, mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, etc. It may include devices such as personal portable terminals, notebook computers, and desktop computers. In the embodiment of the present invention, the calling terminal 102, the called terminal 1 104, and the called terminal 2 106 are one-to-one calls through peer-to-peer communication, respectively, and a conference call through the conference call server 110, which will be described later. is a terminal capable of both, and includes software and hardware resources for the one-to-one or multi-way call.

In one embodiment, the calling terminal 102 , the called terminal 1 104 , and the called terminal 2 106 respectively connect to a conference room opened in the conference call server 110 to be described later and perform a conference call. At this time, the calling terminal 102 is the terminal that initially opened the conference room, and the called terminal 1 104 and the called terminal 2 106 are requested to participate in the conference room opened by the calling terminal 102 and participate in a conference call. each terminal. As described above, although an example in which there are two called terminals is shown in the drawing, this is merely exemplary and the number of terminals participating in the conference call is not limited in the embodiment of the present invention. Also, note that in this embodiment and the following embodiments, "call" includes all types of communication between users that can be performed using a terminal, such as a general voice call, video call, or text/multimedia chatting. . In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, the calling terminal 102, the called terminal 1 104, and the called terminal 2 106 are merely classified according to the functions of the same type of terminals, which constitute the present invention. The subject performing each function may be configured in various ways according to need.

As described above, while performing a multiway call between a plurality of terminals, the number of participants in the multiway call may be changed in some cases. For example, some of the terminals participating in the multiway call may end the call by a user's manipulation, or the connection of some users may be disconnected due to a network abnormality. As such, when the number of terminals participating in a multiway call becomes two due to the termination of some of the terminals participating in the multiway call (that is, when there is no meaning to maintain the conference anymore), the terminals remaining in the conference call are The conference call is converted into a one-to-one call. For example, when the called terminal 2 106 participating in the conference call ends the conference call, the calling terminal 102 and the called terminal 1 104 connect to the conference room established in the conference call server 110 . The conference call can be converted into a one-to-one call by terminating and creating a direct peer-to-peer connection between the calling terminal 102 and the called terminal 1 104 .

When the number of terminals participating in the conference call decreases, the reason for converting the conference call into a one-to-one call is as follows. In the case of a conference call, each terminal connects to a conference room opened in the conference call server 110, and the multiway call server 110 mixes and provides audio and video transmitted from each terminal to each terminal. calls are made with Therefore, a multi-party call consumes more network resources and server resources than a one-to-one call through a peer-to-peer connection between terminals, and accordingly, the possibility of call quality degradation or call delay is higher than that of a one-to-one call. Accordingly, in the embodiment of the present invention, when it is determined that it is possible to switch to a one-to-one call during a multi-party call, it is immediately converted to a one-to-one call, thereby saving server resources and network resources and improving call quality.

The relay server 108 is a server for each of the calling terminal 102, the called terminal 1 104, and the called terminal 2 106 to register their own terminal information. In the illustrated embodiment, there is one relay server 108 on the network, but according to the embodiment, the calling terminal 102, the called terminal 1 104, and the called terminal 2 106 are different relay servers. It may be configured to register terminal information in In the embodiment of the present invention, the relay server 108 is for relaying message transmission and reception between terminals when direct connection between terminals is impossible due to a firewall or the like during peer-to-peer connection between terminals. For example, if it is assumed that a peer-to-peer connection is established between the calling terminal 102 and the called terminal 1 104 , the calling terminal 102 first attempts to send a message directly to the called terminal 1 104 , and , if the direct message transmission fails, the message may be transmitted via a relay server connected to the called terminal 1 104 .

The conference call server 110 is a server that provides a conference call service according to the request of terminals such as the calling terminal 102 , the called terminal 1 104 , and the called terminal 2 106 . As shown, the conference server 110 includes a center server 114 and a multipoint control unit (MCU) 116 .

The center server 114 opens a conference room for a multi-party call in the MCU 116 at the request of the terminal, and provides information for accessing the established conference room to each terminal. In this case, the information may include identification information of the established conference room and connection information of the MCU 116 in which the conference room is established. In addition, when peer-to-peer access information of each terminal is registered from each terminal participating in the multiway call, the center server 114 shares it with other terminals participating in the multiway call. In addition, the center server 114 stores and manages information of each terminal participating in the multiway call, and a message (eg, It manages overall conference calls such as sending push messages).

The MCU 116 opens a conference room for a conference call service under the control of the center server 114 . In addition, the MCU 116 receives audio or video from each terminal connected to the established conference room, mixes it, and provides it to each terminal.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a method 200 for switching from a conference call to a one-to-one call according to an embodiment of the present invention. Prior to performing this process, it is determined that the calling terminal 102, the called terminal 1 104, and the called terminal 2 106 are performing a multi-party call by accessing a conference room opened in the conference call server 110, respectively.

First, the calling terminal 102, the called terminal 1 104, and the called terminal 2 106 share their peer-to-peer connection information with other terminals participating in the conference call, respectively, while performing the conference call. For example, the calling terminal 102 shares its peer-to-peer connection information with the called terminal 1 104 and the called terminal 2 106 , and similarly the called terminal 1 104 and the called terminal 2 106 . In addition, each shares its own peer-to-peer connection information. In this case, the peer-to-peer access information means information necessary to perform a peer-to-peer connection for a one-to-one call between terminals when the conference call is converted into a one-to-one call. The sharing process will be described in more detail as follows.

First, the calling terminal 102 registers terminal information of the calling terminal 102 of the relay server 108 while performing a multi-party call ( 202 ). Specifically, the calling terminal 102 first performs a stun test on the STUN server (not shown) to receive the NAT type information of the calling terminal 102 from the STUN server, and the received NAT type information and its own private By transmitting a registration request message including a network address (Private IP/Port) to the relay server 108 , terminal information can be registered in the relay server 108 . In addition, in this process, the calling terminal 102 may acquire its own public network address (Public IP/Port) from the relay server 108 .

When the terminal information registration with the relay server 108 is completed, the calling terminal 102 registers its peer-to-peer connection information with the conference server 110 ( 204 ). In this case, the peer-to-peer access information of the calling terminal 102 may include the NAT type of the calling terminal 102 , a public network address, a private network address, and an address of a relay server in which the calling terminal 102 is registered. Then, the conference call server 110 transmits the peer-to-peer connection information of the calling terminal 102 registered to the called terminal 1 104 and the called terminal 2 106 participating in the conference call (206, 208). ).

Meanwhile, in the drawing, only the relay server 108 registration and peer-to-peer access information registration processes of the calling terminal 102 have been described, but as described above, the called terminal 1 104 and the called terminal 2 106 are also the same process. and registers its own peer-to-peer access information in the conference server 110 through . That is, each terminal participating in the conference call through the above process registers its peer-to-peer connection information in the conference call server 110, and at the same time receives the conference call server 110 from the peer-to-peer of other terminals. You will receive access information.

After the peer-to-peer access information of each terminal is shared in this way, when the total number of participants in the conference call is reduced to two due to the call termination of some terminals, the terminals remaining in the conference call are shared. The conference call is converted into a one-to-one call using peer-to-peer access information. A more detailed explanation of this is as follows. In the following embodiment, for convenience of explanation, it is assumed that the called terminal 2 106 terminates the conference call.

As described above, when the called terminal 2 106 terminates the conference call (210), the conference call server 110 notifies the terminals of the call termination of the called terminal 2 (106) (212, 214). . In this case, the number of terminals remaining in the conference call is reduced to two of the calling terminal 102 and the called terminal 1 104 due to the call termination of the called terminal 2 106, and there is no need to maintain the conference call anymore. . Accordingly, the calling terminal 102 and the called terminal 1 104, which have sensed this, terminate the multi-party call (216, 218), respectively, and use the previously acquired peer-to-peer connection information of the other terminal to the calling terminal 102. and a peer-to-peer session between the called terminal 1 104 is established to initiate a one-to-one call (220, 222).

Meanwhile, in step 214, when the called terminal 1 104 fails to receive the call termination notification due to a network error or the like or receives it late, the called terminal 1 104 does not know that the called terminal 2 106 has ended the call. Therefore, it is impossible to end the conference call. Therefore, in this case, at the point of receiving the peer-to-peer session connection request (step 220) from the calling terminal 102, the conference call is terminated and the participant terminal that transmitted the peer-to-peer connection request (in the above embodiment). and may be configured to perform a peer-to-peer connection with the originating terminal 102 ).

On the other hand, in order to connect the peer-to-peer session in steps 220 and 222, one of the connection target terminals must transmit a peer-to-peer session connection request to the other terminal, and at this time, a certain terminal receives the session connection request. Whether to transmit or not depends on a preset access priority. That is, the calling terminal 102 and the called terminal 1 104 calculate their own access priority and the counterpart's access priority, respectively, and the terminal having a higher calculated access priority is the peer-to-peer terminal. It sends a connection request.

In embodiments of the present invention, the method for determining the access priority is not particularly limited, and any method for determining the order between terminals is also available. For example, the priority may be calculated in consideration of one or more of whether the corresponding terminal is the originator of the conference call, the incoming time of the conference call of the corresponding terminal, or identification information of the corresponding terminal. For example, if the caller of the conference call is the first priority, if the caller ends the conference call, the conference call is joined in the order of time, and if the conference time is the same, the identification information of the terminal is sorted in ascending or descending order. You can determine the access priority. In the above embodiment, since the calling terminal 102, which is the sender of the conference, has a higher priority than the called terminal 1 104, which is the recipient, the request message for peer-to-peer session connection is transmitted by the calling terminal 102. was composed

As such, according to the embodiments of the present invention, by sharing the peer-to-peer connection information of each participant in advance during the execution of the conference call, the conference call can be quickly converted into a one-to-one call. The sense of disconnection can be minimized.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method 300 for switching from a conference call to a one-to-one call according to another embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the configuration of each step is the same as in FIG. 2 except for the process of terminating the conference call and configuring the peer-to-peer session connection. Accordingly, repeated descriptions of steps having the same reference numerals as those of FIG. 2 will be omitted.

In the present embodiment, when switching to a conference call, a peer-to-peer session between terminals is first established (302, 304), and after the session is established, the conference call is terminated (306, 308) as shown in FIG. It is different from the described embodiment. In this configuration, even if the peer-to-peer session establishment between the remaining terminals fails, a call between terminals is possible through the existing multiway call session, which is advantageous in terms of stability compared to the embodiment of FIG. 2 . There is this. However, in this case, unnecessary network load may occur in the process of establishing a peer-to-peer session while maintaining a multi-party call session, so an administrator can select an appropriate switching method in consideration of the terminal processing performance and network status. .

On the other hand, the conference call terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention, as a terminal including a memory for storing a program code and one or more processors for executing the program code, the program code, the terminal is a plurality of other In order to convert the conference call into a one-to-one call during a conference call with the participant terminals, the peer-to-peer connection information of the terminal and the peer-to-peer connection information of each of the plurality of other participant terminals are stored in the plurality of other participants. A process of sharing with terminals, and in the terminal, when the total number of participants in the conference call is reduced to two, the conference is conducted using peer-to-peer connection information of other participant terminals remaining in the conference call It is intended to carry out processes including the conversion to one-to-one currency.

In this case, the sharing process includes registering the peer-to-peer access information of the terminal with the conference server, and receiving peer-to-peer access information of the plurality of other participant terminals from the conference server. may include.

And the peer-to-peer access information of the terminal may include a NAT type of the terminal, a public network address of the terminal, a private network address, and an address of a relay server to which the terminal is registered.

On the other hand, the process of converting the conference call into a one-to-one call includes the process of receiving a conference call termination notification of some other participant terminals among the plurality of other participant terminals from the conference call server; When the total number of participants of the conference call is reduced to two, the process of terminating the conference call, and peer-to-peer connection information of the other participant terminals remaining in the conference call The method may further include performing a two-peer connection.

The process of performing the peer-to-peer access includes calculating the access priorities of the terminal and the remaining other participant terminals, and when the calculated access priority is higher than the access priorities of the remaining other participant terminals, The method may further include transmitting a peer-to-peer access request to the remaining other participant terminals. The access priority may be calculated in consideration of at least one of whether the corresponding terminal is the caller of the multiway call, the incoming time of the multiway call of the corresponding terminal, or identification information of the corresponding terminal.

In addition, the process of converting the conference call into a one-to-one call includes: receiving a conference call termination notification of some other participant terminals among the plurality of other participant terminals from the conference call server; performing peer-to-peer connection with the remaining other participant terminals using peer-to-peer connection information of other participant terminals remaining in the conference call when the total number of participants in the conference call is reduced to two; and terminating the conference call.

The process of performing the peer-to-peer access includes calculating the access priorities of the terminal and the remaining other participant terminals, and when the calculated access priority is higher than the access priorities of the remaining other participant terminals, The method may further include transmitting a peer-to-peer access request to the remaining other participant terminals. The access priority may be calculated in consideration of at least one of whether the corresponding terminal is the caller of the multiway call, the incoming time of the multiway call of the corresponding terminal, or identification information of the corresponding terminal.

The process of converting the conference call into a one-to-one call includes receiving a peer-to-peer access request from one of the plurality of other participant terminals, and according to the peer-to-peer access request, the multiway call The method may further include terminating the call and performing a peer-to-peer connection with the participant terminal that has transmitted the peer-to-peer connection request.

In connection with the disclosed embodiments, those skilled in the art appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations thereof. something to do. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may include a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other program. It may be implemented or performed as a possible logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented directly in hardware, as a software module executed by a processor, or as a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor to enable the processor to read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Optionally, the storage medium may be integrated into the processor. The processor and storage medium may reside within the ASIC. The ASIC may reside within a user terminal. Optionally, the processor and storage medium may reside as separate components within the user terminal.

Although the present invention has been described in detail through representative embodiments above, those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains can make various modifications to the above-described embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention. will understand

Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments and should be defined by the claims described below as well as the claims and equivalents.

100: conference call system 102: calling terminal 104: called terminal 1 106: called terminal 2 108: relay server 110: conference server 112: network 114: sensor server 116: MCU