Status notifying method in communication system, status notifying
Contents
1. U S Patent Jan 24 2012 Sheet 4 of 7 US 8 103 736 B2 ON LINE FLAG USER STATUS BEING AWAY FROM HIS HER SEAT BUSY ON IN HIDING NOT DEFINED NOT DEFINED FIG 5 LIST 601 WINN BEING AWAY FROM HIS HER SEAT M sur 7772222222 sna 605 US 8 103 736 B2 Sheet 5 of 7 Jan 24 2012 U S Patent SALVLS u3sn Tvnsn N Q H Nl B WNOILVOISILON NON OLNH TIY 40 SNLVIS 39 SONVHO LYS H3H SIH WO AVMW SNIJE OL NH TIY 40 SNLYLS 35 39 LNAITO 63 40 9 V T3 ANIT NO 440 HO wASNEs OL NH 40 SniV14S 9 39 8 NOLLVOLLNSHLAY 40 3 344 HO 3NITNO ONIHOLIMS HOS NOILONYLSNI Lwas uaH SIH NOUS SNI38 tLNSN WOu3 SNLVLS 9 H Z NOLLONYLSNI 9NISS390ud N NYH SALVLS YASN 34438 9 9l US 8 103 736 B2 Sheet 6 of 7 Jan 24 2012 U S Patent 9065 SNLVLS d3sf AJILON 6 das 3NTT330 SI 3 3TTONYH HLIM ANANO LYHL AJILON N SI SALVLS 34 344 5 3 JIANYH H M LNTO LVHL AJILON 055 ON NO GANuNL SI 9V 1H 3NITNO 03153 489 Yod DVT Nar LNIANO WOH NOLLVOILLON SNLYLS 4350 HO4 1S3003H 5539084 NOILVOISILON 9 5 HASN H3AH3S Z2. U S Patent Jan 24 2012 Sheet 7 of 7 US 8 103 736 B2 703 704 S 1 262 maehiro 262 kazutoyo STATUS FLAG NOT DEFINED Ge US 8 103 736 B2 1 STATUS NOTIFYING METHOD IN COMMUNICATION SYSTEM STATUS NOTIFYING SERVER AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEM CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in Japanese Patent Application No 2001 126437 filed on Apr 24 2001 and Japanese Patent Application No 2002 84835 filed on Mar 26 2002 the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1 Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a status notifying method in a communication system a status notifying server and a communication system More particularly the present inven tion relates to a status notifying method a status notifying server a communication system and a computer readable recording medium in a communication system for notifying through a server a status of multiple clients regarding con nection to a communication network 2 Description of the Related Art Conventionally a technology is known that in a client server system a server monitors each client connected to a communication network stores the connection status in a memory device and notifies the connection status retrieved from the memory device in response to a request f
3. SERVER NO Ly YES 403 TURN ON OR OFF ON LINE FLAG OF CHANGED CLIENT AWAY FROM HIS HER SEAT 7 249 161 B2 7 2007 Srinivas et al 709 206 2002 0052919 A1 5 2002 Morris et al 709 205 2002 0083134 6 2002 Bauer et al 709 204 2002 0095571 1 7 2002 Bradee 713 164 2003 0191846 10 2003 Hunnicutt et al 709 229 2004 0193722 1 9 2004 Donovan 709 230 FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS EP 0944002 9 1999 EP 1071295 1 2001 JP 10271159 10 1998 JP 11259393 9 1999 JP 2000 32033 1 2000 JP 2000 92153 3 2000 JP 2001 14254 1 2001 JP 2001 222498 8 2001 WO 00 59191 10 2000 WO 00 69140 11 2000 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Trillian online user manual Jul 2000 6 pages Retrieved from www ceruleanstudios com support manual php Apr 12 2006 Continued Primary Examiner Aaron Strange 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Greenblum amp Bernstein P L C 57 ABSTRACT A profile server group determines vvhether any request for status notification is received from the client If there is a request for status notification a handle name included in the request is obtained and a status flag corresponding to the handle name is extracted from the hard disk Next the status flag is checked If the on line flag is set to ON the user status is checked If the user status is not IN HIDING the user status is notified On the other hand w
4. client of the plurality of clients having a plurality of user names for con necting to the communication network the method compris ing storing in a memory an on line flag that indicates the connection status of the selected client a status flag that indicates the user status of the selected client and infor mation on whether notification of one ofthe connection status and the user status is allowed the on line flag and the status flag each being stored in association with all of the plurality of user names of the selected client receiving from the selected client a first instruction for updating the on line flag of the selected client to one of an online status and an offline status updating the on line flag stored in association with all of the plurality of user names of the selected client to the one oftheonline status and the offline status in response to the first instruction receiving from the selected client when the on line flag of the selected client is the online status a second instruc tion for updating the status flag of the selected client to one of an away a busy a hiding and an undefined status updating the status flag stored in association with all ofthe plurality of user names ofthe selected client to the one of the away the busy the hiding and the undefined status in response to the second instruction receiving a request for notification of one of the connection status and the user status from one o
5. network and logging off the network and instructs the profile server group 115 to switch the on line flag every time the connection status is switched from on line to offline or from offline to on line The profile server 115 changes the set value in the on line flag in response to the instruction Further the user status is switched based on a switching instruction from the logged in client as described below Next processing for instructing to switch a user status will be described the processing being performed by a logged in client FIG 5 shows an example of a screen to be displayed on a display of a client through a program for instructing the user status switching performed in the client On this screen a button 601 is pressed when the profile server 115 is instructed to switch the user status to BEING AWAY FROM HIS HER SEAT T A button 602 is pressed when the profile server 115 is instructed to switch the user status to BUSY T A button 603 is pressed when the profile server 115 is instructed to switch the user status to IN HIDING The user uses a mouse or a controller connected to the client to select a desired button of these buttons Then by pressing a confirmation button 605 how the user status is switched is determined When the client recognizes the button manipulation the client generates a switching instruction including a user status value corresponding to the pressed button and sends it to the profile ser
6. to one embodiment of the present invention and FIG 9 is a diagram showing an example of an icon stored in a memory device of the client according to one embodi ment of the present invention DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the appended drawings FIG 1 shows an example of the system configuration according to one embodiment ofthe present invention FIG 1 includes the Internet 101 to which a server group 102 of an Internet service provider ISP video game machines 103a and 1035 and generic computers PC 104a and 1042 are connected The ISP server group 102 includes multiple server groups For example an authentication server group 111 may be provided for managing user names for user authentication A content server group 112 may provide content usage ser vices described below and a message server group 113 may provide an environment for chat and or messaging An e mail server group 114 may provide e mail services a profile server group 115 may be provided for managing user profiles and game server groups 116a and 1165 may provide a game environment All of the server groups are connected through aLAN 117 With this configuration a user can access the authentica tion server group 111 in the ISP server group 102 from a client such as video game machines 103a and 1035 and generic computers 104a and 1045 through the Internet 101 for his her authen
7. 103 736 B2 7 clients with listed handle names An icon 701 included in the list 703 varies in form to indicate the user status of a handle name 702 The user status notification with the variation in icon form is specifically performed as follows A client specifies at least one handle name and requests the profile server group 115 for the status notification The profile server group 115 receives the request and extracts the status flag as described above Then the status flag is returned to the requested client Icons corresponding to the types of user status are pre stored in the memory device of the client as shown in FIG 9 When the status Slag is returned from the profile server 115 an icon is extracted from the memory device based on the notified con tent included in the information Then the icon correspond ing to the handle name is displayed on the display While the preferred embodiment of the present invention is described above the present invention is not limited to the embodiment Other embodiments are possible For example the client in the present invention may include any kind of information processing apparatus which can communicate with an ISP server group Therefore the present invention can be applied to not only the above described embodiment but also to an information processing apparatus such as a mobile telephone and a personal digital assistant PDA having an Internet connection function Further the Intern
8. US008103736B2 a2 United States Patent 10 Patent No US 8 103 736 B2 Maehiro 45 Date of Patent Jan 24 2012 7 185 059 B2 2 2007 Daniell etal 709 206 54 STATUS NOTIFYING METHOD IN COMMUNICATION SYSTEM STATUS NOTIFYING SERVER AND COMMUNICATION SYSTEM 75 Inventor Kazutoyo Maehiro Tokyo JP 73 Assignee Kabushiki Kaisha Square Enix Tokyo JP Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U S C 154 b by 1795 days 21 Appl No 10 106 350 22 Filed Mar 27 2002 65 Prior Publication Data US 2002 0156844 Al Oct 24 2002 30 Foreign Application Priority Data Apr 24 2001 JP sse 2001 126437 Mar 26 2002 2002 084835 51 Int CI G06F 15 16 2006 01 52 USC 709 207 709 204 58 Field of Classification Search 709 203 207 709 219 224 463 42 See application file for complete search history 56 References Cited U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 534 855 A 7 1996 Shockley et al 340 5 52 5 889 945 A 3 1999 Porter et al 6 175 873 Bl 1 2001 Yamane et al 6 205 478 Bl 3 2001 Sugano et al 6 446 112 B1 9 2002 Bunney et al 709 204 SERVER USER STATUS CHANGING PROCESSING 401 INSTRUCTION FOR CHANGING USER STATUS FROM CLIENT YES INSTRUCTION FOR SWITCHING ON LINE OR OFF LINE OF CLIENT FROM AUTHENTICATION
9. em that updates connection status relating to all ofthe user names whichare used by the client that sent the instruction to update According to a third aspect ofthe present invention there is provided a computer readable recording medium on which is recorded a program for causing a server to notify the status of a group of clients regarding connection to a communication network The program causes the server to store in a first memory device the connection status and information on whether notification of the connection status is allowed The information and status are sent from the clients The program further causes the server to receive a request for the notifica tion of the connection status from one of the clients The program further causes the server to determine in response to the received request whether the connection status is notified based on the information stored in the first memory device and to notify the connection status stored in the first memory device when it is determined that the connection status 1s allowed to be notified Preferably the client has multiple user names each of which is used for connecting to the communication network The server stores a connection status for each of the user names US 8 103 736 B2 3 The program may further causes the server to receive an instruction for updating the connections status from one of the clients and to update connection status relating to all of the user names
10. eps for exemplary status notifying processing will be described which processing is performed by the profile server group 115 based on a request for status notification from a client with reference to a flowchart shown in FIG 7 The profile server group 115 determines whether any request for status notification is received from the client step 501 If there is a request for status notification a handle name included in the request is obtained and a status flag corresponding to the handle name is extracted from the hard disk 207 step S502 Next the status flag is checked step S503 If the on line flag is set to ON it is checked whether the user status is IN HIDING step S505 If the user status is not IN HIDING the user status is notified step S506 If the user status is IN HIDING the off line status is notified S507 On the other hand when the on line flag is set to OFF the client with the handle name relating to the request notifies that it is offline step S504 In this embodiment the status notification by the profile server group 115 can be performed by sending the status flag FIG 8 shows an example of a screen to be displayed on a display of a client having received the status notification from the profile server 115 As shown in FIG 8 a list 700 includes a list 703 of connection status for on line clients with listed handle names and a list 704 of connection status for offline US 8
11. et 101 may be a communication network preferred by a system user in accordance with the usage and may be a communication line using a Local Area Network LAN a publicly switched telephone line and a communi cation satellite While in the embodiment the icons indicating user status are stored in the client an icon may be sent from the profile server group in response to a request for status notification and the icon received by the client may be displayed The status for the connection to the communication network may be indicated by not only an icon but also by an image such as a photograph and characters The display screen in the embodiment is only an example for the explanation purpose and the arrangement and the size of the display area are not limited to the example shown in the embodiment of the present invention While in the embodiment the example where the infor mation processing devices each having a different function are connected to the LAN 117 it is apparent for those skilled in the art that the multiple functions may be implemented by one information processing device Furthermore different kinds of variations other than the embodiments described above are possible Those variations are within the scope of the present invention as far as it is based on the technical spirit described in the appended claims The present invention can be implemented by using at least one computer program which can be executed on a compu
12. f the plurality of clients determining in response to the received request whether the one of the connection status and the user status is allowed to be notified based on the information stored in the memory and notifying the one of the connection status and the user status via one of the on line flag and the status flag stored in the memory only when it is determined that the one of the connection status and the user status is allowed to be notified wherein the on line flag and the status flag of the selected client are collectively associated with all of the plurality of user names of the selected client each of the user names of the selected client is updated to the one of the online status and the offline status in response to receiving only the first instruction and each of the user names of the selected client is updated to the one of the away the busy the hiding and the unde fined status in response to receiving only the second instruction 2 The status notifying method according to claim 1 wherein the on line flag of the selected client is further updated in response to the selected client completing a log ging in process and a logging off process US 8 103 736 B2 9 3 The status notifying method according to claim 1 wherein the connection status of all of the associated user names of the selected client is automatically updated to the one of the online status and the offline status in response to the first i
13. hard disk 207 in the profile server 115 As shown in FIG 4 the status flag includes an on line flag indicating a connection status and a user status The on line flag indicates whether the client is logged into the network When the flag is ON it means that the client is logged in while when the flag is OFF it means that the client is not logged in The user status is a flag which can be set when the on line flag is ON and can be one of the values BEING AWAY FROM HIS HER SEAT BUSY IN HIDING and NOT DEFINED The BEING AWAY FROM HIS HER SEAT user status indicates that the user is apart from the on line client This may be the case when the user is away from his her seat in front of the client and cannot respond immediately to requests from other clients The BUSY status indicates that the user cannot respond immediately to requests from the other client because for example the user is using his her client for gaming The IN HIDING status is a value to be set when the user does not want to reveal that his her client is logged into the network that is when the notification of the connection status is not allowed In FIG 4 the on line flag is switched based on the authen tication of a client logging into the network and or an instruc tion from the authentication server 111 monitoring the on line client In other words the authentication server group 111 monitors the client logging into the
14. hen the on line flag is set to OFF the client with the handle name relating to the request notifies that it is offline 9 Claims 7 Drawing Sheets CHANGE USER STATUS OF ALL HN TO BUSY CHANGE USER CHANGE USER STATUS OF ALL STATUS OF ALL HN TO TO BEING AWAY NON NOTIFICATION FROM HIS HER SEAT OR IN HIDING 405 USUAL USER 8410 STATUS CHANGING US 8 103 736 B2 Page 2 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Examiner Screenshots Trillian version 0 62 Screenshots created Feb 7 2007 Software released Jan 28 2001 Trillian Trillian com website Feb 2 2001 Oldversion Oldversion com Trillian Feb 7 2007 Examiner Screenshots figs 4 and 5 Trillian version 0 62 Screenshots created Apr 1 2011 Software released Jan 28 2001 English language Abstract and partial English translation for JP 10 271159 Oct 9 1998 English language Abstract and partial English translation for JP 11 259393 Sep 24 1999 English language Abstract and partial English translation for JP 2000 32033 Jan 28 2000 English language Abstract and partial English translation for JP 2001 14254 Jan 19 2001 Tateishi N Internet Voyager ASCII vol 24 No 1 Japan ASCII Corp pp 398 403 Jan 1 2000 together with a partial English language translation of the same English language Abstract of JP2001 222498 English language Abstract of JP 2000 92153 cited b
15. in response to the selected client completing a logging in pro cess and a logging off process 6 The status notifying server according to claim 4 wherein the first updater automatically updates the connection status ofall of the associated user names of the selected client to the one of the online status and the offline status in response to the first instruction without the selected client identifying indi vidual ones of the user names to be updated 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 7 A non transitory computer readable recording medium on which is recorded a program for causing a server to notify a connection status and a user status of a plurality of clients regarding connection to a communication network at least a selected client of the plurality of clients having a plurality of user names for connecting to the communication network the program causing the server to execute storing in a memory an on line flag that indicates the connection status of the selected client a status flag that indicates the user status of the selected client and infor mation on whether notification of one of the connection status and the user status is allowed the on line flag and the status flag each being stored in association with all of the plurality of user names of the selected client receiving from the selected client a first instruction for updating the on line flag of the selected client to one of an online
16. lient is updated to the one of the online status and the offline status in response to receiving only the first instruction and each of the user names of the selected client is updated to the one of the away the busy the hiding and the unde fined status in response to receiving only the second instruction 8 The non transitory computer readable recording medium according to claim 7 wherein the on line flag of the selected client is further updated in response to the selected client completing a logging in process and a logging off pro cess 9 The non transitory computer readable recording medium according to claim 7 wherein the connection status of all of the associated user names of the selected client is automatically updated to the one of the online status and the offline status in response to the first instruction without the selected client identifying individual ones of the user names to be updated
17. ng an instruction for updating the connection status of one of the clients and updating the connection status relating to all of the user names which are used by the client who sent the instruction to update According to a second aspect ofthe present invention there is provided a status notifying server for notifying the status of multiple clients regarding connection to a communication network The status notifying server includes a first memory for storing the connection status and information on whether notification ofthe connection status is allowed The status and information are sent from the clients The status notifying server further includes a request receiver that receives a request for the notification of the connection status from one of the clients and a notification system that determines in response to the received request whether the connection sta tus is notified based on the information stored in the first memory and notifies the connection status stored in the first memory when it is determined that the connection status is allowed to be notified In this case the client may have multiple user names each of which is used for connecting to the communication net work The first memory device may store a connection status for each of the user names The status notification server may further include an instruction receiver that receives an instruction for updating the connections status from one of the clients and a syst
18. nstruction without the selected client identifying indi vidual ones of the user names to be updated 4 A status notifying server for notifying a connection status and a user status of a plurality of clients regarding connection to a communication network at least a selected client of the plurality of clients having a plurality of user names for connecting to the communication network the server comprising a memory for storing an on line flag that indicates the connection status of the selected client a status flag that indicates the user status of the selected client and infor mation on whether notification of one of the connection status and the user status is allowed the on line flag and the status flag each being stored in association with all of the plurality of user names of the selected client a first instruction receiver that receives a first instruction for updating the on line flag of the selected client to one of an online status and an offline status a first updater that updates the on line flag stored in asso ciation with all of the plurality of user names of the selected client to the one of the online status and the offline status in response to the first instruction a second instruction receiver that receives when the on line flag of the selected client is the online status a second instruction for updating the status flag of the selected client to one of an away a busy a hiding and an undefined status a sec
19. ond updater that updates the status flag stored in association with all of the plurality of user names of the selected client to the one of the away the busy the hiding and the undefined status in response to the sec ond instruction a request receiver that receives a request for notification of one of the connection status and the user status from one of the plurality of clients and a notifier that determines in response to the received request whether the one of the connection status and the user status is allowed to be notified based on the infor mation stored in the memory and notifies the one of the connection status and the user status via one of the on line flag and the status flag stored in the memory when it is determined that the one of the connection status and the user status is allowed to be notified wherein the on line flag and the status flag of the selected client are collectively associated with all of the plurality of user names of the selected client each of the user names of the selected client is updated to the one of the online status and the offline status in response to receiving only the first instruction and each of the user names of the selected client is updated to the one of the away the busy the hiding and the unde fined status in response to receiving only the second instruction 5 The status notifying server according to claim 4 wherein the on line flag of the selected client is further updated
20. rom one of the clients In such technologies when the server recognizes that one of the clients logs into the network the server stores in the memory device information indicating the client s on line status Then when one of the logged in clients queries the network status the server sends only information on clients connected to the network The client receives the information and displays a list of current logged in clients that is on line clients on the display Recently communication using a communication net work such as e mail and chat has become popular In such communication each client may recognize the status of the other clients logged into the network before sending a mes sage to an on line client However the user cannot manipulate a client when the user is away from the client even though the client is on line In this way despite the fact that the user is not at the client the server notifies other clients that the client is present in response to a request from the other clients As aresult even when a client queries network information notified by the server and sends a message to another on line client the client cannot receive a response immediately Fur ther another problem is that a connection status of the client is notified to a party even when the user of the client does not want to notify the connection status SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention was made in view ofthese problems I
21. ssing returns to the checking process at step S401 again In the determination process at the step 404 the process ing goes to step S406 when the user status in the switching instruction is not BEING AWAY FROM HIS HER SEAT and it is determined whether the user status in the switching instruction is BUSY Then when it is BUSY the user status corresponding to all handle names used by the client having sent the switching instruction are reset to BUSY step S407 Then the processing returns to the checking process at step S401 again In the determination process at step S406 the processing goes to step S408 when the user status in the switching instruction is not BUSY Then it is determined whether the user status in the switching instruction is IN HIDING Then when it is IN HIDING the user status corresponding to all handle names used by the client having sent the switch ing instruction are reset to IN HIDING step S409 Then the processing returns to the checking process at step S401 again In the checking process at the step S408 when the user status in the switching instruction is not IN HIDING the processing goes to step S410 There the user status corre sponding to all handle names used by the client having sent the switching instruction is switched to the USUAL USER STATUS step S410 Then the processing returns to the checking process at step S401 again Next st
22. status and an offline status updating the on line flag stored in association with all of the plurality of user names of the selected client to the one of the online status and the offline status in response to the first instruction receiving from the selected client when the on line flag of the selected client is the online status a second instruc tion for updating the status flag of the selected client to one of an away a busy a hiding and an undefined status updating the status flag stored in association with all of the plurality of user names of the selected client to the one of the away the busy the hiding and the undefined status in response to the second instruction receiving a request for notification of one of the connection status and the user status from one of the plurality of clients determining in response to the received request whether the one of the connection status and the user status is allowed to be notified based on the information stored in the first memory device and notifying the one of the connection status and the user status via one of the on line flag and the status flag stored in the memory when it is determined that the one of the connection status and the user status is allowed to be notified wherein the on line flag and the status flag of the selected client are collectively associated with all of the plurality of user names of the selected client each of the user names of the selected c
23. stored in the profile server group 115 through registration processing using a client and is one example of a user name according to the present inven tion The handle name can be registered as follows A user inputs his her user ID and password to a client and logs on the Internet 101 Then the user requests to register a handle name with the profile server group 115 The profile server group 115 maps the user ID handle name and pass word relating to the request and stores them in the hard disk 207 for registration Then the user having registered the handle name sends the user ID the registered handle name and password and requests the log in to the authentication server group 111 The authentication server group 111 obtains information of the user ID corresponding to the received handle name from the profile server group 115 and authenticates the user for the requested log in In this embodiment the user ID which was once input by the user and stored in the client is automatically sent from the client when logging in Therefore a user only needs to input US 8 103 736 B2 5 his her handle name and password to the client for logging in and can receive different kinds of services provided by the ISP server group 102 without inputting his her user ID FIG 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configura tion of a flag relating to a status called status flag herein after corresponding to each client which is stored in the
24. t is an object of the present invention to provide a status notifying method and a status notifying server a communi cation system and computer readable recording medium which can notify a connection status to a communication network properly In view of the object according to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a status notifying method 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 performed in a communication system including multiple clients and a server The method is for notifying status of the clients regarding connection to a communication network The server stores in a first memory device the connection status and information on whether notification of the connec tion status is allowed The status and information are sent from the clients The server also receives a request for the notification of the connection status from one of the clients Then the server determines in response to the received request whether the connection status is notified based on the information stored in the first memory device and notifies the connection status stored in the first memory device only when it is determined that the connection status is allowed to be notified The client may have multiple user names each of which is used for connecting to the communication network The server may store a connection status for each of the user names The status notification method may further include receiv i
25. ter system including processors combined to receive and send data and instructions from to a recording medium an input device and an output device The computer program may be described in high level procedure type programming lan guage object oriented programming language assembly language machine language or markup language Accordingly a processor receives a computer program from a recording medium The recording medium substan tially incorporating a command from the computer program may be a semiconductor memory element such as a flash memory element a magnetic disk such as an internal hard disk and a removable disk and a CD R 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 As described above according one embodiment of the present invention a user of a client can avoid connection status notification as necessary Further since a user status is indicated by an image such as an icon displayed under each handle name for the user it is easier to recognize the user status Furthermore the connection status for all user names handle names owned by a client can be set through a single instructing operation What is claimed is 1 A status notifying method performed in a server operat ing in a communication system including a plurality of cli ents and the server for notifying a connection status and a user status of the plurality of clients regarding connection to a communication network at least a selected
26. tication The ISP server group 102 sends a menu screen to the authenticated client logging into the LAN 117 The user selects one of services displayed on the menu screen In 20 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 response to the selection one of the video game machines 103a and 1036 and the generic computers 104a and 1045 becomes connected to one ofthe server groups corresponding to the selected services Then the user can receive different kinds of information services The hardware configuration for each client can include a commonly available workstation an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer and a video game machine and peripheral devices thereof Functions according to the present invention which are described below may be implemented by a CPU a disk device a memory device an input device an output device and programs for controlling them in each of the hardware configurations FIG 2 conceptually shows an example of the hardware configuration of the profile server group 115 in which an information supply method according to the present invention is implemented A CPU 201 for performing overall control a ROM 202 in which a program for implementing a status notifying method according to the present invention and a RAM 203 which is a temporary memory area are connected together through a bus 200 Further to the bus 200 there is connected a hard disk 207 The hard disk 207 may store a comp
27. uter program for imple menting the status notifying method according to one embodiment of the present invention connection status from the video game machines 103a and 1032 and the generic computers 104a and 1045 to the Internet 101 and a status of users Also a keyboard mouse interface 206 a video inter face 210 connecting to a display 211 and a communication interface 205 for connecting to the Internet 101 are connected the bus 200 The keyboard mouse interface 206 is connected to a keyboard 209 and a mouse 212 which are used for command and or character input The status notifying method according to one aspect ofthe present invention can be achieved when the CPU 201 reads out and executes the program code for a program for imple menting processing described below from the hard disk 207 The hard disk 207 functions as a computer readable recording medium according to another aspect of the present invention FIG 3 shows an outline of authorization through an account whereby each client within the system according to one embodiment of the present invention logs in the Internet In FIG 3 the video game machines 103a and 1035 and the generic computers 104a and 1045 have user ID s respec tively for logging on the Internet 101 Further in one embodi ment a maximum of 64 predetermined handle names can be assigned to each user ID Of course in other embodiments the maximum can be larger or smaller The handle name is a name to be
28. ver 115 Next steps for processing of switching a connection status flag will be described which processing is performed by the profile server 115 with referenceto a flowchart shown in FIG 6 The profile server group 115 periodically checks whether any instruction to switch the user status is received from the client step S401 If there is no switching instruction the profile server group 115 checks whether any on line or offline switching instruction for the client is received from the authentication server group 111 step S402 When there is an 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 on line or offline switching instruction the on line flag of a corresponding client is set to ON or OFF based on the switch ing instruction step S403 and the checking process at step 5401 is repeated If there is neither on line nor offline switch ing instructions the checking process at step S401 is repeated Inthe checking process at step S401 when an instruction to switch the user status is received from the client the process ing goes to step S404 At step 404 the instruction is analyzed to determine whether the user status included in the instruc tion is BEING WAY FROM HIS HER SEAT If it is BEING AWAY FROM HIS HER SEAT the user status corresponding to all handle names HN used by the client having sent the switching instruction are reset to BEING AWAY FROM HIS HER SEAT step S405 Then the pro ce
29. which are used by the client that instructed the update BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the system configuration according to one embodiment of the present invention FIG 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a profile server in which an infor mation notifying method according to one embodiment ofthe present invention is implemented FIG 3 is a diagram showing an outline of an account from which each client logs on the Internet which client is con nected to a system according to one embodiment of the present invention FIG 4 is a diagram showing an example of the configura tion of a status flag stored in a hard disk in the profile server according to one embodiment of the present invention FIG 5 is a diagram showing an example of the screen to be displayed on a display of a client by a program for instructing a change of the user status according to one embodiment of the present invention FIG 6 is a flowchart showing a flow of processing for switching a status flag which is performed by the profile server according to one embodiment ofthe present invention FIG 7 is a flowchart showing the steps of status notifying processing performed by the profile server according to one embodiment of the present invention FIG 8 is a diagram showing an example of the screen to be displayed on a display of client receiving status notification according
30. y examiner US 8 103 736 B2 Sheet 1 of 7 Jan 24 2012 U S Patent dfiO89 3 39 dNOWD 9 dNOWS 3 35 4 H3AH3S 4 3NIHOVN 3NIHOVIN SVS 0601 egot 0701 erol LOL a a gn ee et se a ae ee ee oe een ee ee er en ee ere ede et te my d 10H9 9 3140 JOVSS3N 3 i 7d z zT 8911 sil PI eit el 1 H3AU3S NOILVOLNAHLAW EEE 201 Old US 8 103 736 B2 Sheet 2 of 7 Jan 24 2012 U S Patent AY 1510 119 JOVAYALNI OAQIA 012 ASIG ASNOW quvogA3M etm 212 602 LO 3OV3H31NI Stl l NOILVOINQWINOO US 8 103 736 B2 Sheet 3 of 7 Jan 24 2012 U S Patent v9 310 9 3AVN zd Z 3INVN e 3NVN STONVH GIHSSN SINYN di uasn 3NIHOV N OAGIA JNIHOVN 0601 31408 211 V9 4 10NVH 1 Ue be awa 2 SVN 3 4 3INVN 3 di wasn dflOH9 3 35 NOILVOLLNAHLAY 6 Old LE V9 310 g JAVN 3 FWYN 310 ai uas
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