Communication parameter search apparatus and communication support apparatus using the same

A method for electronically transmitting a message to persons who were in attendance at a particular meeting, after the meeting, said method comprising the steps of:

• grouping the persons who were in attendance at the particular meeting based on previously stored information regarding the time of the meeting, previously stored information regarding the place of the meeting and trace information of the location regarding the moving of each person;
• searching previously registered addresses for current addresses of the grouped persons at the time of transmitting the message;
• and
• transmitting automatically an electronic message to the addresses searched in the searching step.

A communication parameter search method, comprising:

• receiving a signal indicating a location of each user positioned in any place among a plurality of locations;
• managing the location of each user in accordance with the received signal and with location history information of each managed user together with time information;
• receiving an input designating a place and a range of time;
• storing one or more communication parameters necessary for communication with each user;
• grouping managed users who were present in the same designated place and same range of time by referring to stored location history information for managed users;
• searching the stored communication parameters to identify communication parameters of the grouped users;
• displaying a list of selectable identified communication parameters corresponding to a name of each grouped user who was present at the same designated place during the same designated range of time;
• and
• communicating with the grouped users using their corresponding selected communication parameters.

A memory medium storing a program for controlling a computer to perform a communication parameter search, by:

• receiving an input designating a place and a range of time;
• storing one or more communication parameters necessary for communication with each of a plurality of users;
• grouping managed users who were present in the same designated place and same range of time by referring to stored location history information for managed users;
• searching the stored communication parameters to identify communication parameters of the grouped users;
• displaying a list of selectable communication parameters corresponding to a name of each grouped user who was present at the same designated place during the same designated range of time;
• and
• communicating with the grouped users using their corresponding selected communication parameters.

A communication parameter search apparatus, comprising:

• a location managing unit receiving a signal, indicating a location of each user positioned in any place among a plurality of locations, and managing the location of each user and further comprising a location history information memory storing a history of location information representing a location of each managed user together with time information;
• an input receiving unit receiving an input, designating a place, and an input, of a range of time, from an operator;
• a communication parameter memory storing one or more communication parameters necessary for communication with each user;
• a user grouping unit for grouping users who were present in the same designated place and same range of time received by the input receiving unit, by referring to information stored in the location history information memory and managed by the location managing unit;
• a communication parameter search unit searching the communication parameter memory to identify communication parameters of the users grouped by the user grouping unit;
• a display unit for displaying a list of selectable communication parameters corresponding to a name of each user who was present at the same designated place during the same designated range of time;
• and
• a communications unit for communicating with the grouped users using their corresponding selected communication parameters.

A method of automatically communicating with groups of people, comprising:

• inputting the location and a range of time;
• determining, when the range includes a past time, a first group of people, whose members were present at the location during the time, by searching a location history database;
• determining, when the range includes a past time, a second group of people, whose members are currently present at the location during the time, by searching the location history database and a schedule database;
• determining a third group of people, when the range includes a future time, whose members are scheduled to be present at the location during the time, by searching the schedule database;
• determining, for each member of each group, a communication method and address corresponding to the member and the method, by searching a directory;
• and
• communicating a message to each member of each group by using the communication and address corresponding to each member.