JP2948838B2 - Shared screen control method - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a distributed computer system connected by a communication network, and in particular, office work and design by combining and sharing terminal screens of a plurality of users. The present invention relates to a screen control method that enables a group of operations, software development, and the like to cooperate on a terminal on their own desk.

(Prior art)

In a conventional word processor or personal computer, each user has his / her own computer (CPU), a memory, and a display (screen), and uses it to perform personal tasks such as document creation and spreadsheets.

In a distributed computer system, these computers are connected to a local area network (LA).
N), by connecting via a communication network such as a wide area network, it is possible to exchange information with other users using the e-mail function and share information with other users using the file server function. (See Akihiro Uetani "J Star Workstation", Maruzen Co., 1986).

However, the e-mail function and the file server function are storage-type communication functions, and it has been impossible for a plurality of users to share the same information in real time and operate the information at the same time.

In addition, there is a means such as a video conference system that enables a conference between users distributed at remote locations by real-time communication of voice and image.

While viewing each other's faces and the presented document by multimedia communication of voice and images, it is possible to disperse and arrange meetings at remote locations.

However, an instruction operation on a document presented by the other party (eg,
Instruct the other person to see while saying "I don't understand here." Or use the cursor to indicate the location. ), Write operation (eg, write a comment on the other party's document while saying "It is better to change this expression.").

That is, it was impossible to create a document jointly.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

By the way, most of the work in an organization is collaborative work by a group. For example, a document created by a certain person is shown to another person to receive comments, and discussions are made while modifying figures and tables. Now consider how these tasks are supported by conventional systems.

Creation of documents and charts is supported by word processing functions.

However, with the conventional word processor function, in order to receive comments after this, print the document once and send it to the other party by mail or facsimile (hereinafter referred to as FAX), receive the comment by telephone or fax, and It is necessary to have a procedure to reflect it in the document. If the person is nearby, you will go there and explain directly and get a comment.

Also, when using the conventional distributed computer system, the created document is moved to a shared file server,
Have the person you want to comment on read from there, or send the document to them using email. The comments will be sent back in the same way or by phone.

In this way, after creating and printing a document, fax transmission, telephone,
Since various processes that cannot be performed on a desk-top computer, such as a conference, are required, there has been a problem that the entire flow of work is discontinuous and work efficiency is impaired.

In addition, when asynchronous communication is involved as in the case of e-mail, there has been a problem that time continuity of work is interrupted.

Further, the video conference system can hold a meeting while viewing the sample while watching the face of the other party in real time. However, there is no function that instructs a certain part of the document presented by the other party to be visible to the other party, and marks or writes a comment there.

In addition, there is no function that allows a plurality of alternatives to be arranged on one screen, and further allows an instruction operation and a comment writing operation to be performed thereon.

Therefore, there is a problem that the co-editing difference on the work desk in the meeting room or on the blackboard cannot be performed in a normal meeting.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems.

An object of the present invention is to provide a shared work space (place) for groups distributed by a screen composition technique on a personal computer on a desk.

The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention are as follows.
It will become apparent from the description of the present specification and the accompanying drawings.

[Means for solving the problem]

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a shared screen control method in a distributed computer system to which a plurality of computer systems are connected, wherein an image sharing request for generating an image sharing request signal based on an image sharing request from a user. Means, image sharing old song user registration means that defines whether or not image synthesis is possible for each user and image distribution permission, and accepts an image sharing request signal from each user, and compares it with the image sharing permission user registration means. Image sharing / distribution permission control means for deciding whether or not to permit image synthesis for the user who transmitted the image sharing request signal and distributing the composite image, distributing the composite image signal by synthesizing the output image of each user, and the image Based on the determination of the sharing / distribution permission control means, the output image signal of the computer system of each user and the image The most main feature of the present invention is that an output image selecting means for switching between the combined image signal from the existence / distribution permission control means is provided.

[Action]

According to the above-described means, by synthesizing and distributing each computer screen with the partner who wants to work together,
It is possible to show the proposed document to a remote party, to indicate a certain place on the document presented by the other party with a pointing device such as a mouse, and to write a comment on the screen.

In addition, by using the system in combination with a telephone or a videophone, it becomes possible to support collaborative work that was impossible with a conventional distributed computer system or videoconference system.

That is, in the normal personal mode, the output image signal generated by the own computer is selected by the output image selection unit and displayed on the own output device.

The image sharing request unit transmits an image sharing request signal in response to an image sharing request from the user.

The image sharing permitted user registration unit registers at least a composition permitted user permitted to combine images and a distribution permitted user permitted to be distributed.

In the image sharing / distribution permission control unit, based on the content of the received image sharing request signal and the content of the image sharing permitted user registration unit, whether or not the image transmission request signal can be combined with the user who has transmitted the image sharing request signal and the distribution permission of the combined image are determined. Then, the image sharing control signal and the image distribution control signal are generated at the same time as sending the image sharing permission signal to the user.

The image selection unit for synthesis selects an image signal to be synthesized based on the image synthesis control signal.

The image combining unit combines the plurality of image signals selected by the combining image selecting unit to generate a combined image signal.

The composite image distribution destination selection unit selects a user to distribute the composite image signal generated by the image composition unit based on the image distribution control signal.

The image switching control unit generates an image switching control signal based on the received image sharing permission signal.

The output image selection unit selects either an output image signal generated by its own computer based on the image switching control signal or a composite image signal transmitted from the composite image distribution destination selection unit and displays it on the output device.

In this way, it is possible to combine and distribute images among a plurality of users based on the image combining request of each user and the contents of the image sharing permitted user registration unit.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.

One embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a processing technique in which a user A performs a basic design of an electronic device, receives comments from users B and C, and reflects the result in a design drawing, will be specifically described with reference to drawings. I do.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall schematic configuration of a screen sharing system according to the embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, 1 is an output device, 2 is a computer, 3 is an output image selection unit, 4 is an image switching control unit, 5 is an image sharing request unit,
6 is an image sharing permitted user registration unit, 7 is an image sharing / distribution permission control unit, 8 is an image selection unit for synthesis, 9 is an image synthesis unit, 10
Is a composite image distribution destination selection unit.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a screen sharing system by three users according to the present embodiment.

In FIG. 2, reference numerals 21, 31, and 41 denote output devices, 22, 32, and 42.
Is a computer, 23, 33, 43 is an output image selector, 24, 3
4 and 44 are image switching control units, 25, 35 and 45 are image sharing request units, 51 is an image selection unit for synthesis, 52 is an image synthesis unit, 53 is a synthesis image distribution destination selection unit, and 54 is image sharing / distribution permission. Control unit, 55
Denotes an image sharing permitted user registration unit.

A1, b1, c1 are image sharing request signals from users A, B, C, a2, b2, c2 are image sharing permission signals to users A, B, C, a3,
b3, c3 are the output image signals of the computers of the users A, B, C, a
4, b4 and c4 are combined image signals.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing the overall flow of the present embodiment.

Next, the operation of the screen sharing system by three users according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG.

(Step 1) Step 1 is a step of drawing a design drawing using drawing software as shown in FIG. 3 (A).

That is, usually, the output image selection unit 2 of each user A, B, C
3, 33, and 43 are set so that output image signals a3, b3, and c3 of their own computers are output. That is, the user A can view the output screen of his computer 22 by the output device 21. Similarly, users B and C
Can view the output screens of their computers 32 and 42 by the output devices 31 and 41, respectively. Because of this user
A, B, and C can work independently using their computers, and user A can create a design drawing independently of users B and C.

(Step 2) As shown in FIG. 3 (B), the user A
Displaying the design drawings created by the user using his / her computer on the terminals of the user B and the user C using the screen sharing function, explaining the points of the design by telephone, and designating the explanation points with his / her mouse It is.

That is, when the user A creates a design drawing using his / her computer, the user B receives a comment on the created explanatory drawing. User A registers user B in image sharing permitted user registration unit 55 via image sharing request unit 25.

One embodiment of the image sharing permitted user registration unit 55 is shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 4, the image sharing permitted user registration unit 55 can register a registration setter, an image composition permitted user, and an image distribution permitted user. When the registration of the image sharing permitted user is completed, the image sharing / distribution permission control unit 54 generates an image composition control signal, an image distribution control signal, and an image sharing permission signal based on the content.

FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the combination image selection section 51, and FIG. 6 shows an embodiment of the combination image distribution destination selection section 53.

In FIG. 5, a register 61 for storing an image synthesis control signal is used. Each bit of the register 61 corresponds to each user, and is set to "1" for a user who is permitted to perform composition, and "0" for a user 3 who is not permitted to perform composition. However, “0” is set to a user who has not yet issued a sharing request among the combination-permitted users. Therefore, at this stage, since the users A and B who have requested the image sharing have not requested the image sharing yet, the contents of the register 61 are set as shown in FIG. The control switches 62, 63, and 64 are switches that are turned off when the control signal is "0" and turned on when the control signal is "1". The switch control is performed on the signals a3, b3, and c3 using the bit contents as a control signal.

In FIG. 6, a register 71 for storing an image distribution control signal is used. Each bit of the register 71 corresponds to each user, and is set to “1” for a distribution-permitted user and “0” for a user who is not permitted to be distributed.
However, among the distribution-permitted users, a user who has not yet issued a sharing request is set to “0”. Therefore, at this stage, since the user A has requested the image sharing but the user B has not requested the image sharing yet, the contents of the register 71 are set as shown in FIG. The control switches 72, 73, and 74 are off (off) when the control signal is "0", and are on (on) when the control signal is "1".
And performs switch control on a signal from the image synthesizing unit using the content of each bit of the register 71 as a control signal. As shown in FIG. 2, the image sharing permission signal a2 is sent to the image switching control unit 24, and generates a control signal for the output image selecting unit 23. As a result, the output image selection unit 23 selects the output signal a4 from the composite image distribution destination selection unit 53 and displays it on the output device 21. When the registration of the image sharing / distribution permitting person is completed by the user A, the user B requests image sharing. When the image sharing / distribution permission control unit 54 receives the image sharing request signal b1 transmitted from the image sharing request unit 35, the image synthesizing control signal and the image distribution control signal are compared with the contents of the image sharing permitted user registration unit 55. Generate an image sharing permission signal. Since the user B is registered as a distribution-permitted user, the contents of the registers 61 and 71 are set in the image selection unit for synthesis 51 and the image synthesis unit 52, respectively. The image sharing permission signal b2 is sent to the image switching control unit 34,
Generate a control signal for 33. As a result, the output image selection unit 33 outputs the output signal b4 from the composite image distribution destination selection unit 53.
Is displayed on the output device 31.

By the above series of processing, both the output devices 21 and 31
The output image signal a3 generated by the computer 22 is displayed. Similarly, in response to the image sharing request by the user C, the register 61 is set to "111", and the output image signals a3 generated by the computer 22 are displayed on the output devices 21, 31, and 41. Therefore, the user A can use the input means of the user A to instruct the explanation location or rewrite the screen content, and the users B and C can see the state by the output devices 31 and 41.

 Note that the image synthesis requests of the users B and C may be concurrent.

(Step 3) Step 3 is performed as shown in FIG.
Is a stage in which a point on the design drawing having a problem is indicated using his / her own input device (mouse or the like), and a question is asked to the user A.

That is, when the user B makes a comment using his / her computer, first, the user A updates the contents of the image sharing permission user registration unit 55. That is, the user B is added to the combination permitted user. As a result, an image synthesizing control signal is generated from the image sharing / distribution permission control unit 54 and sent to the synthesizing image selecting unit 51. The content of register 61 is "110",
The output image signals a3 and b3 generated by the computers 22 and 32 are synthesized by the image synthesis unit 52 and displayed on the output devices 21, 31, and 41. The image synthesizing unit 52 generates a synthesized image signal in which the output image signals a3 and b3 are translucently superimposed. As a result, the user B can give an instruction using his / her input device (mouse or the like). By changing the shapes and colors of the mouse cursors of the user A and the user B, it is possible to identify who is pointing where. The pointing operation by the mouse cursor can be performed in parallel with each other.

(Step 4) As shown in FIG. 3 (D), the user C
Starts the word processing software that is used by the user A, and superimposes a new document on the design drawing presented by the user A. Then, the design condition to be considered is written in the document.

That is, when the user C makes a comment using his / her own computer, the content of the register 61 becomes “111” by updating the content of the image sharing permitted user registration unit 55 by the user A in the same manner as in step 3 described above. Computer
The output image signals a3, b3, and c3 generated by 22, 32, and 42 are combined by the image combining unit 52 and displayed on the output devices 21, 31, and 41.
The image synthesizing section 52 generates a synthesized image signal in which the output image signals a3, b3, c3 are translucently superimposed (FIG. 2). User C
Starts word processing software and overlays a new document on the design drawing presented by the user A. Then, design conditions to be considered are written in the document. Make sure that the written text is above the problem area. as a result,
Everyone sees as if the comment of user C was written above the problematic part of the design drawing. Such a comment writing operation can be performed in parallel with each other, similarly to the instruction operation using the mouse cursor.

As can be seen from the above description, according to the present embodiment, each user can work independently using his / her computer, and can show his / her screen to other users on demand, Output screens can be overlapped. At this time, any information (documents, charts, images, moving images, etc.) that can be displayed on the screen can be superimposed and shared, and the writing operation on the own screen can rewrite information displayed by other users or change the information displayed by other users. Display editing operation is not interrupted. Therefore, participants can perform collaborative work, which cannot be performed by the conventional distributed computer system or video conference system, without linking software on a desired computer screen.

In the present embodiment, an example in which each image signal is translucent and superimposed has been described as an image synthesizing method. However, application to a multi-screen synthesizing method such as dividing a screen and displaying each image signal in each part is described. Is optional.

In the present embodiment, an example of three persons is shown, but it goes without saying that n persons are generally possible. Also, at this time, the screen can be shared among arbitrary m persons (m <= n) out of n persons, and furthermore, the screen composition of arbitrary p persons (p <= m) among the m persons is possible. It is.

In the present embodiment, an example in which the content of the image sharing permitted user registration unit 55 can be updated only by the setter has been described.
A configuration in which a plurality of updatable users can be set may be used.

One embodiment of the image sharing permitted user registration unit 55 at this time is shown in FIG.

FIG. 7 shows an example in which an image sharing request is registered in the image sharing permitted user registration unit 55 at the time of an image sharing request. However, the content is registered in advance as a screen sharing group, and an image sharing request is made by designating a registration group. A configuration may be used.

FIG. 8 shows one embodiment of the image sharing permitted user registration unit 55 at this time.

In FIG. 8, the group names, the users belonging to each group, and the permission rights of those users can be registered. In addition, an in-use column is provided so that the group using the image synthesizing unit 52 can be identified, so that when one group is sharing images, another group cannot share images.

Although FIG. 8 shows an example of image sharing by one group, the present invention may have a configuration in which a plurality of groups simultaneously share an image.

FIG. 9 shows an example in which the image synthesizing unit 110 is connected to a plurality of image synthesizing modules 11 in order to simultaneously perform image sharing by a plurality of groups.
This is an embodiment constituted by 1, 112, and 113.

In FIG. 9, the image selection section for synthesis 100 includes selection switches 101 and 10 for enabling an output image signal from each user to be input to any one of the image synthesis modules.
2, 103. The composite image distribution destination selection unit 120
It comprises selection switches 121, 122 and 123 for selecting a composite image signal from any one of the image compositing modules and distributing it to each user.

130 is an image sharing / distribution permission control unit, and 131 is an image sharing permitted user registration unit.

One embodiment of the image sharing permitted user registration unit 131 is shown in FIG.

The image sharing request from the user is made by designating a group.

For example, as shown in FIG. 9 and FIG.
Designates the group G1, and requests image sharing, the image sharing / distribution permission control unit 130 searches for an unused image composition module, assigns the image composition module 111 (module 1) to the group G1, and assigns the image composition module 111 to the group G1. Recorded in the authorized user registration unit 131. Next, an image synthesis control signal is generated so that the output image signal from the user A is input to the image synthesis module 111, and the image selection unit for synthesis 100 switches the selection switch 101 based on the signal. further,
An image distribution control signal is generated so that the output from the image composition module 111 is distributed to the user A, and the composite image distribution destination selection unit 120 switches the selection switch 121 based on the signal.

Next, when the user B designates the group G1 and requests image sharing, the image sharing / distribution permission control unit 130 searches the image sharing permitted user registration unit 131. As a result, the group G1
Knows that the image synthesizing module 111 is assigned, generates an image distribution control signal so that the output from the image synthesizing module 111 is distributed to the user B, and the synthesized image distribution destination selecting unit 120 outputs the signal. The selection switch 122 is switched on the basis of. In parallel with this, when the user C designates the group G3 and requests image sharing, the image sharing / distribution permission control unit 130 allocates the image synthesizing module 112 (module 2) to the group G3 by similar processing.

Hereinafter, by performing the same processing, a plurality of groups can simultaneously perform image sharing.

As mentioned above, although the present invention was explained concretely based on an example, the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned example.
It goes without saying that various changes can be made without departing from the gist of the invention.

〔The invention's effect〕

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

(1) Normally, work using one's own computer is possible.

(2) An image can be shared by distributing an image by supplying an output image of the user's computer to another user or an output image of another user in response to a request from the user.

(3) By synthesizing and distributing an output image of one's own computer and an output image of another user in response to a user's request, parallel collaborative work on a shared image (shared screen) is possible.

(4) A user who supplies an image or a user who is permitted to combine images can be individually set.

(5) The above images (screens) can be shared / combined between any combination of n users (n is 2 or more).

(6) Since the object to be shared is an image signal and does not act on the computer of another user, the present system can be used regardless of the type of system or software. When sharing and synthesizing the image (screen), there is no need to link software between the computer devices, and each user can use desired computer devices and software.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a screen sharing system according to an embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a processing technique in which a user A makes a basic design of an electronic device, receives comments from the users B and C, and reflects the result in a design drawing. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of the embodiment, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a connection method of three persons in the present embodiment, FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining the overall flow of the embodiment, FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of an image sharing permitted user registration unit according to the embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of an image selection unit for synthesis according to the embodiment. FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of an image distribution destination selection unit. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an embodiment of an image sharing permitted user registration unit in which a plurality of updatable users can be set in the present embodiment. In this embodiment, a plurality of image sharing groups FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an image sharing permitted user registration unit that can be set, FIG. 9 is a configuration example in which a plurality of groups in this embodiment can simultaneously perform image sharing, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an embodiment of an image sharing permitted user registration unit for allowing a plurality of groups to simultaneously perform image sharing in FIG. In the figure, 1,21,31,41 ... output device, 2,22,32,42 ... computer, 3,23,33,43 ... output image selection unit, 4,24,34,44 ...
… Image switching control unit, 5, 25, 35, 45 …… Image sharing request unit, 8,
51,100 ... composite image selecting unit, 9,52,110 ... image combining unit, 10,53,120 ... combined image distribution destination selecting unit, 7,54,130 ...
... Image sharing / distribution permission control unit, 6, 55, 131 ... Image sharing permitted user registration unit, 61, 71 ... Register, 62, 63, 64, 72, 73,
74 ... Control switch, 101,102,103,121,122,123 ...
Selection switch, 111, 112, 113 ... Image synthesis module, a
1, a2, a3, a4, b1, b2, b3, b4, c1, c2, c3, c4 ... Signals and symbols.

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G06T 1/00-1/60 G06F 3/14-3/153 G09G 5/00-5/40

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A shared screen control method in a distributed computer system to which a plurality of computers are connected, comprising: an image sharing request unit for transmitting an image sharing request signal based on an image sharing request from a user; Based on the contents of the received image sharing request signal and the received image sharing permitted user registration unit. Image sharing / distribution permission control for determining whether or not image composition is possible and permitting distribution of a composite image to a user who has transmitted the image sharing request signal, transmitting the image sharing permission signal, and simultaneously generating the image composition control signal and the image distribution control signal. A synthesizing image selecting unit that selects an image signal to be synthesized based on the image synthesizing control signal; An image combining unit that combines the image signals selected by the unit to generate a combined image signal; and selects a user to distribute the combined image signal generated by the image combining unit based on the image distribution control signal. A composite image distribution destination selecting unit that transmits the composite image signal to the selected user; an image switching control unit that generates an image switching control signal based on the received image sharing permission signal; An output image selection unit that selects one of the output image signal generated by its own computer based on the switching control signal or the synthesized image signal transmitted from the synthesized image distribution destination selection unit and sends it to an output device, An output device for displaying the transmitted image signal.