JP2013239875A - Communication support system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication support system capable of supporting a crew by a voice/character/image or the like, when the crew communicates with a passenger under a noise environment such as in an aircraft.SOLUTION: The voice uttered by a crew 6a is transmitted to a server 4 through a simple headset 1, a seat terminal 2a, and a relay 3. The server 4 automatically selects a seat terminal 2b to which the voice is hard to hear from a position of the seat terminal 2a and distributes the received voice data through the same transmission path. The seat terminal 2b outputs the voice to a front face, such that a passenger 6c can recognize the voice by a natural voice of the crew 6a and the outputted voice more easily than ever before.

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication assistance system having a function of assisting the communication of a crew member when a passenger is provided with a service and a passenger receives a service in a cabin such as an aircraft having a designated seat arranged in a compartment.

  In recent years, airlines have used network system facilities such as in-flight entertainment (hereinafter referred to as IFE) systems and in-flight service systems (hereinafter referred to as CSS) installed in cabins in mobile units such as aircraft. Providing services to passengers.

  The IFE specializes in in-flight entertainment. In many cases, seat terminals arranged in all seats are used as service providing terminals. Services provided include movies, music, games, and the Internet. On the other hand, the CSS specializes in providing audio / video without comfort and entertainment in the cabin. Depending on the type of aircraft, the latest aircraft offers services such as in-flight lighting control, window liquid crystal shutter control, and in-flight announcements. As the equipment, crew terminal, handset, etc. are used.

  These network systems have one to a plurality of servers each having information that associates position information and address information of each terminal. Therefore, when communication is attempted from each seat, it is possible to specify the outgoing seat and to acquire seat information in the vicinity of the outgoing seat.

  The present invention intends to expand in-flight services by utilizing the audio-video transmission / display technology, the seat location specifying algorithm, and the server function that are generally included in these in-flight network system facilities.

  As a service providing system including a network system similar to this case, for example, the one shown in Patent Document 1 has been proposed.

  Although what is shown in Patent Document 1 describes a service provided by a crew member based on wireless communication, it is an extension technology of general wireless communication technology to the last, and the form of service described in the present invention is as follows. It cannot be explained alone.

JP 2006-246297 A

  In a passenger cabin of a moving body such as an aircraft, communication such as sound of a jet engine, wind noise of an air current, etc. often impedes communication only by voice. There are also factors due to the characteristics of passengers due to differences in conversational language and hearing inconvenience. There are also physical factors such as IFE viewing using a headset, music player viewing, and earplug usage. There are also mental factors such as reading, games and conversations with others that require concentration. The above factors can be similar obstacles.

  Normally, when a crew member tried to communicate with passengers by voice in such a situation, it was necessary to take a response such as making a louder voice, gesturing, and requesting cooperation from a passenger in the adjacent seat.

  The present invention has been considered to solve the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to realize more reliable communication by utilizing the function of a seat terminal.

  In order to achieve the solution of the above problem, in the communication assist system of the present invention, a seat row having a plurality of seats connected by an information transmission terminal and a repeater, and a plurality of seat rows are further connected by a plurality of repeaters. An in-flight network with one or more servers connected at the end. And the information transmission terminal takes the voice uttered by the crew from the voice input device and converts it into voice data, and sends it from the signal data output device to the nearest first seat terminal by radio communication means such as radio waves and infrared rays, The first seat terminal adds a logical address given in advance to the input signal and starts transmission toward the server address. The server is registered in advance with the source address attached to the voice data. From the correspondence information of the address and the seat position, the address of the first seat terminal and the second farthest seat terminal is determined and the voice data is transmitted, and the second seat terminal converts the voice data transmitted from the server, It is characterized by speaking from a headset or a speaker and finally assisting communication between the crew and passengers.

  Further, when the server receives the voice data, the voice data may be converted into a medium corresponding to character information / image / semantic information and transmitted to the second terminal by a suitable means. At that time, the second terminal may not necessarily consider the positional relationship with the first terminal.

  Further, the information transmission terminal can transmit not only voice data but also control data, and the seat terminal may receive and transfer the control data to the server in the same manner as the voice data.

  The server may convert the control data into an arbitrary medium and transfer it to the seat terminal.

  A crew member or a passenger may use the voice input device of the first seat terminal instead of the information transmission terminal. In this case, the information transmission terminal may not be in a range where the communication assist system can be used.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a communication assistance system that avoids obstacles to a communication target person in a space where a large number of seats such as an airplane are installed.

The figure which shows the network structure of the communication assistance system in embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the mode at the time of actual service provision of the communication assistance system in embodiment of this invention, and main components. The figure which shows the simple headset in embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the seat terminal in embodiment of this invention The figure which shows the server in embodiment of this invention The block diagram which shows the basic form of the server application in embodiment of this invention The block diagram which shows the application form of the server application in embodiment of this invention

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  First, the system configuration of the communication assist system in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall configuration of a communication assist system, and FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between an image and devices / equipment when the communication assist system is actually used.

  As shown in FIG. 1, in the communication assist system, a plurality of seat terminals 2 are connected by a network transmission path 5 (hereinafter referred to as “transmission path”), and a plurality of units are collectively connected to the repeater 3 (this drawing). Let's say that each has three units). Further, the system is configured such that the repeater 3 passes through another repeater 3 to form a tree-structured repeater group 3b or a daisy chain repeater group 3a, and is finally integrated into the server 4. ing.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, each seat terminal 2 is attached to the back of the seat, and the crew member 6a transmits the digitized voice data to the nearest seat terminal 2a using the simple headset 1, The data is transmitted to the server 4 via the repeater 3 on the transmission line 5, the daisy chain-connected repeater group 3a, and the tree-structured repeater group 3b. The server 4 transmits the above voice data to the seat terminal 2b located far from the crew member 6a. The time lag during this time is almost zero, and the passenger 6c can hear both the voice of the crew member 6a and the voice uttered from the seat terminal 2b, and it is easily imagined that it is easier to hear.

  Next, among the above-described processes, a process until the voice data reaches the server 4 will be specifically described with reference to FIGS.

  3 shows the configuration of the simple headset 1, FIG. 4 shows the configuration of the seat 7 and the seat terminal 2a, FIG. 5 shows the configuration of the server 4, and FIG. 6 shows the internal algorithm in the server 4.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the simple headset includes a microphone unit 11, a voice and communication processing circuit unit 12, a light emitting unit 13, and a speaker unit 14. The voice and communication processing circuit unit 12 has an operation mode switching function, and can usually be used as a simple transceiver. In the use of the communication assist system, voice is input to a general microphone unit 11, and the voice and communication processing circuit unit 12 converts it into a digital signal, which is then transmitted via the light emitting unit 13. As a digital data conversion method, according to the processing capability of the voice and communication processing circuit unit 12, PCM format / ADPCM format that only performs encoding, or G.P. It is preferable to select from the audio compression coding system MP3, AAC, etc. employed in 711 or IFE. As a data transmission / reception system, the infrared communication standard IrDA, which can easily design the light receiving direction and the light receiving distance, is suitable for this use. In the standard, DATA 1.2 and 1.3 have a transmission distance of 0.3 meters, which is shorter than the narrowest distance between seats (23 inches (about 0.58 meters)) in the aviation industry as of 2010. Therefore, the possibility of causing interference in the front and rear seats is lower.

  As shown in FIG. 4, a light receiving unit 23 and a main board 24 are arranged inside the seat terminal 2a, and an LCD panel unit 21 and a speaker unit 25 for screen display are arranged on the front surface. A harness 26, an audio output terminal 22, and a transmission path 5 are arranged inside the seat 7, and the repeater 3 is arranged on the bottom surface. The repeater 3 is arranged only in the center seat of the adjacent three seats, and the transmission path 5 from the seat terminal 2 in the adjacent seat is connected. In the usage of the present invention, audio data is received from the light receiving unit 23, converted into a format suitable for transmission on the transmission path 5 in the CPU of the main board 24, and transferred to the server 4. In this case, according to the OSI reference model, a method using Ethernet (registered trademark) standard for the physical / data link layer, IP for the network layer, UDP for the transport layer, and RTP for the session layer is preferable as the transmission method. In this method, the source address is informed to the server 4 under the IP specification. However, when another method in which the source address is not informed is adopted, it is necessary to take a means for notifying the source separately.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the server 4 includes a transmission / reception device unit 42 and a main board 41. In the use of the present invention, the audio data from the transmission path 5 is received by the transmission / reception device unit 42, processed by the main board 41, and appropriate audio data or other information is appropriately used according to the service content to be provided Delivered from the transmitting / receiving device unit 42 to a seat or the like.

  Next, the application 8 expressed by software in the server 4 in the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. It is assumed that all software processes of the application 8 operate cooperatively on an operating system (OS) that operates on the main board 41. In the use of this embodiment, it is assumed that this general Linux (registered trademark) -derived OS is adopted, and all software processing is executed by a binary-format software program whose source is C language. In addition, as a software module necessary for the minimum operation, a C standard library, a database having SQL as a constituent language, and the like are included in advance, and a program described below is available. In addition, an operation unit generally called a process or a thread is called a task because its form is not specified. A group of software modules that are used by a task and prepared for the cooperative operation with the software module or OS is called a library. Further, the information management unit in the database is called a table in any information management unit such as a table or a query.

  As shown in FIG. 6, the application 8 includes a received data processing task 81, a service processing task 82, a distribution processing task 83, a destination search library 84, and a seat number / address comparison table 85. In the use of the present invention, the reception data processing task 81 takes out the voice data formed in a form suitable for transmission received from the transmission / reception device unit 42, separates it into a transmission source address and the voice data itself, and then separates a series of separated data. Data is passed to the service processing task 82. The service processing task 82 calls a function of the application program interface (API) of the destination search library 84 using the source address as an argument. The called address retrieval library 84 derives its own seat number from the seat number / address comparison table 85 described in the database using the source address as a key, and further determines a far seat number from the seat number arrangement rule. Conversely, the delivery address is derived from the seat number. The service processing task 82 receives the result as a return value, and delivers it to the distribution processing task 83 together with the destination address and the voice data. The distribution processing task 83 immediately distributes the audio data to the distribution destination address.

  Next, the process until the voice data is viewed by the passenger 6c who is a service recipient will be described with reference to FIGS. The audio data transmitted from the distribution processing task 83 finally reaches the seat terminal 2b from the transmission / reception device unit 42 through the transmission path 5 via the plurality of repeaters 3 on the way. The seat terminal 2b determines from the received port number and outputs the sound from the front speaker unit 25.

As described above, the passenger 6c who is a service recipient can simultaneously view the voice from the front speaker and the real voice from the crew member 6a, and can obtain a certain improvement in ease of hearing even in various difficult viewing environments. Is possible.
(Second Embodiment)
The above is the basic embodiment of the present invention, but it is also possible to configure the following communication assist system.

In the second embodiment, the voice and communication processing circuit unit 12 of the simplified headset 1 includes an external input device such as an optional switch, and can emit signals other than voice data as necessary. Thereby, it becomes possible to transmit a standard control signal to the nearby seat terminal 2 and to facilitate communication. For example, in order to communicate, it is possible to use for purposes such as displaying a message on the screen notifying that the crew member 6a is nearby, or temporarily stopping video / audio.
(Third embodiment)
A third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 7 is an extended form of FIG. 6 described in the first form, from the semantic information analysis library 811 that extends the received data processing task, the text conversion library 812, and the media search library 841 that extends the service processing task 82. Composed.

  In the third usage, after the reception data processing task 81 receives the voice data, the semantic information analysis library 811 analyzes the voice data and triggers a service issued by the crew member 6a (for example, before in-flight eating) Or “contents spoken using the text conversion library 812” is converted into character information. Next, the service processing task 82 receives the converted information of the reception data processing task 81, and the necessary data (for example, menu data using images and characters in the case of “in-flight meal menu display”) according to the service to be provided. The search is performed using the media search library 841. Next, similarly, necessary destination information is searched from the destination search library 84 according to the contents of the service. For example, in the case of the in-flight meal menu display, the addresses of all the rows of seats that the crew 6a is to communicate with are taken out and used as delivery destinations. Next, the distribution processing task 83 distributes the data searched by the service processing task 82 according to the similarly searched destination address. According to the embodiment as described above, it is possible to realize more accurate communication support.

  The present invention is not limited to the aircraft exemplified above, and can be widely used in an environment where physical position information is self-explanatory by seat designation or the like and there is a hindrance to voice communication.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Simple headset 11 Microphone part 12 Audio | voice and communication processing circuit part 13 Light emission part 14 Speaker part 2 (2a-2c) Seat terminal 21 LCD panel part 22 Audio | voice output terminal 23 Light receiving part 24 Main board 25 Speaker part 26 Harness 3 Repeater 4 server 41 main board 42 transmission / reception device section 5 transmission path 6a crew member 6b passenger 6c passenger 7 seat 8 application 81 received data processing task 811 semantic information analysis library 812 text conversion library 82 service processing task 83 distribution processing task 84 destination search library 841 media Search Library 85 Seat / Address Comparison Table

Claims (7)

A communication auxiliary system comprising an information transmission terminal, first and second seat terminals and a server,
The information transmitting terminal includes voice input means, voice AD conversion means, and data signal output means. The voice input from the voice input means is converted into voice data by the voice AD conversion means and output from the data signal output means. ,
The first seat terminal includes a data signal input means, a data signal transmission means, and an address storage means. The voice data output from the information transmission terminal is input from the data signal input means, and from the address storage means. Add the acquired address information and transmit from the data signal transmission means to the server,
The server includes an address seat position correlation table, a data signal receiving unit, a service processing unit, and a data signal transmitting unit. The data signal transmitted from the first seat terminal is received by the data signal receiving unit, and service processing is performed. From the address seat position correlation table, the address of the second seat terminal physically farthest in the same small network system as the first seat terminal is designated as the destination of the data signal, and the data signal transmission means Send
The second seat terminal includes voice DA conversion means, voice output means, and data signal reception means, converts the signal data received from the data signal reception means into voice by the voice DA conversion means, and speaks from the voice output means. Communication assist system characterized by doing. The communication assistance system according to claim 1,
The server further includes audio data conversion means for converting into any media such as corresponding audio, text, video, etc. based on semantic information of the audio data, and the seat terminal outputs the converted data A featured communication assist system. The communication assistance system according to claim 1,
The first information transmission terminal further includes an external control unit and a control data generation unit, and transmits the control data from the data signal output unit. The communication assistance system according to claim 1,
The first seat terminal is a communication assistance system for transmitting control data from the data signal input means from a data signal transmission means. The communication assistance system according to claim 1,
The server further comprises control data conversion means for converting to any media such as voice, characters, video, etc. corresponding to the control data based on the control data, and transmits the data from the data signal transmission means. The communication assistance system according to claim 1,
The second seat terminal further comprises display means for displaying any media such as voice, text, video, etc., and communicates to the user. A communication assistance system comprising all or one of the features of claims 1 to 6.

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