The present invention relates to a communication parameter search apparatus for searching information necessary for communication such as a telephone number, a mail address, a facsimile number or the like hereinafter, referred to as xe2x80x9ca communication parameterxe2x80x9d) and a communication support apparatus using the same.
In recent years, a schedule management system has been put to practical use. In the schedule management system, a schedule of each user is electronically managed, so that, for example, an electronic mail can be simultaneously transmitted to users who are due to participate in a meeting (e.g., Schedule+(trade name) manufactured by Microsoft Corporation).
Another system has been invented which not only manages a schedule of each user so as to support scheduling for a meeting or the like, but also manages the location of each user in real time and stores a method for contact corresponding to each location. Thus, it is determined whether or not it is possible to contact each user. In the case where it is possible to contact a user, the system displays the method for contact. In addition to such a function, for example, a system disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-274495 can inform reachable participants shortly before the start time, that the start time of a scheduled meeting is approaching.
However, the aforementioned conventional system is unable to transmit proceedings to users who participated in a meeting after the meeting. In order to transmit the proceedings, it is necessary to look into other sources for the communication parameter of all the participants and communicate in an ordinary process. More specifically, in order to transmit a mail, as shown in FIG. 30, it is necessary to input a mail address of each participant on a screen.
Therefore, in the case where, for example, a large number of participants are present in a meeting, the conventional system has a problem in that troublesome tasks are required for contacting the participants after the meeting.
A communication parameter search apparatus according to the present invention includes location managing means for receiving a signal indicating a location of each user and for managing the location of each user, input receiving means for receiving an input designating a location from an operator, communication parameter storing means for storing communication parameters necessary for communication with each user, user search means for referring to information managed by the location managing means and for searching for users present in the location designated by the input received by the input receiving means, and communication parameter search means for searching the communication parameter storing means for communication parameters concerning the users searched for by the user search means.
In one embodiment of this invention, the location managing means further includes location history information storing means for storing history of location information representing a location of each managed user. The input receiving means further receives an input of a range of time from an operator. The user search means refers to information stored in the location history information storing means so as to search for users present in the location designated by the input received by the input receiving means in the designated range of time.
In another embodiment of this invention, the communication parameter search apparatus further includes schedule input receiving means for receiving an input of a schedule from each user, and schedule storing means for storing a schedule received by the schedule input receiving means. If a range of time designated by an input received by the input receiving means includes a time after the time of reception of the input, the user search means refers to the schedule so as to search for users present in a location designated by the input received by the input receiving means in the designated range of time.
In still another embodiment of this invention, the input receiving means further receives an input of a minimum stay period of users to be searched for from an operator. The user search means further includes a stay period calculating means for calculating stay period of searched users, referring to at least one of the location history information storing means and the schedule storing means. The communication parameter search means searches for communication parameters concerning users whose stay period calculated by the stay period calculating means is longer than the minimum stay period received by the input receiving means.
In one embodiment of this invention, a communication support apparatus includes the communication parameter search apparatus according to one embodiment of this invention and communication control means for performing communication using a communication parameter searched for by the communication parameter search apparatus.
In one embodiment of this invention, the communication support apparatus further includes display means for displaying an addressee searched for by the communication parameter search apparatus, correction input receiving means for receiving an input of correction concerning the addressee from an operator, and correction means for correcting a communication parameter based on the input received by the correction input receiving means. The communication control means performs communication using the communication parameter corrected by the correction means.
In another embodiment of the communication parameter search apparatus of this invention, the input receiving means further receives an input designating an attribute value of users to be searched for. The communication parameter storing means further stores the attribute value of each user. The communication parameter search means searches for a communication parameters concerning users having the attribute value designated by the input.
In yet another embodiment of the communication parameter search apparatus of this invention, the input receiving means further receives an input of a minimum stay period of users to be searched for from an operator, the user search means further includes stay period calculating means for calculating stay period of searched users, referring to at least one of the location history information storing means and the schedule storing means. The communication parameter search means searches for communication parameters concerning users whose stay period calculated by the stay period calculating means is longer than the minimum stay period received by the input receiving means.
Thus, the invention described herein makes possible the advantages of (1) providing a communication parameter search apparatus capable of easily specifying users to communicate with and searching for communication parameters of the users to communicate with and (2) providing a communication support apparatus using the same.
These and other advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying figures.