Apparatus and method to start an online meeting

A method for starting an online meeting with a client, a server, and a meeting control apparatus configured to control an image capture apparatus in a room, the method comprising:

• accessing to the server to inquire status information of the online meeting with a meeting ID;
• providing the status information which shows if the online meeting is running or not to the client;
• providing access information, to the meeting control apparatus corresponding to a room selected by the client, to the client in a case where the online meeting is not running;
• accessing to the meeting control apparatus corresponding to the selected room based on the access information provided by the server;
• sending the meeting ID to the meeting control apparatus so that the meeting control apparatus can start the online meeting with the meeting ID;
• performing a verification process to check if a person is in the selected room or not, and
• starting the online meeting with the meeting ID and sending an image captured by the image capture apparatus in the selected room to the server after the verification process is passed.

An apparatus comprising:

• at least one memory storing instructions;
• and
• at least one processor that, upon execution of the instructions stored in at least the one memory, is configured to:
• access to a server to inquire status information of an online meeting with a meeting ID;
• receive the status information which shows if the online meeting is running or not from the server;
• select a room for starting the online meeting in a case where the online meeting is not running;
• receive access information to a meeting control apparatus corresponding to the selected room, and
• send the meeting ID to the meeting control apparatus so that the meeting control apparatus performs a verification process to check if a person is in the selected room or not to start the online meeting with the meeting ID.