System and network terminal for ip communications

Abstract

A network terminal is capable of running a plurality of user environments in parallel and is connected to an interface device. The network terminal includes a plurality of communication units, a plurality of collaborating units, and a monitoring unit. The plurality of communication units are provided in one to one correspondence with a plurality of user environments. Each communication unit is configured to implement an Internet Protocol telephone call in the corresponding user environment. The plurality of collaborating units are provided in one to one correspondence with the plurality of communication units. Each collaborating unit is configured to perform a collaborative control on the corresponding communication unit and the interface device to thereby establish communications between the interface device and the corresponding communication unit. The monitoring unit monitors whether any of the collaborating units is performing the collaborative control. One of the plurality of collaborating units performs the collaborative control when the subject collaborating unit receives: notification from the monitoring unit indicating that none of the plurality of collaborating units is performing a collaborative control; and notification from the interface device specifying the subject collaborating unit as a specified collaborating unit to perform the collaborating control.