JP3061444B2 - Multimedia communication equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to audio information, video information,
AV (Au) such as a videophone device and a video conference system capable of multiplexing multimedia information such as data (all user information other than video and audio) and communicating with each other.
dio Visual: a multimedia communication device represented by a device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, practical use of a communication service using an ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) line has started, and AV services such as a videophone / video conference system using such a digital line have been receiving attention.

[0003] By the way, the service specification, protocol specification, multimedia multiplexing frame structure specification, coding method of moving picture information, etc. for AV service are described in CCITT recommendations (or draft recommendations) "H.320", "H.242". ,
It has been announced as "H.221", "H.230", "H.261" and the like. In "H.221", 64kbps ~
A frame structure in an AV service on a 1920 kbps channel is defined.

FIG. 5 shows a frame structure of “H.221” on a 64 kbps × 1 channel, where numbers 1 to 8 on the horizontal axis are bit numbers, and numbers 1 to 80 on the vertical axis are octet numbers. , 80 octets constitute one frame. In the figure, control of frame synchronization / multiframe synchronization, communication quality monitoring function, alarm information notification, etc. are performed by FAS (frame synchronization signal).

[0005] FIG. 6 shows one multi-frame of FAS = 8 sub-multi-frames (1 sub-multi-frame = 2
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating bit assignment between frames. Also,
A BAS (Bit Rate Assignment Signal) is used to specify the capability of the line terminal of the AV service, the designation of the bit rate assignment for each medium in the actual frame, and various other controls and notifications. As shown in FIG. 6, the BAS is transmitted in even frames, and the corresponding error correction bits are transmitted in odd frames.

[0006] According to CCITT recommendation "H.242", AV
In-channel BAS between service line terminals
Communication procedures, such as a capability information exchange sequence and a mode switching sequence, are specified. The CCITT recommendation “H.320” defines system aspects of AV services in general. CCITT Recommendation "H.230"
Defines various controls and notifications that require transmission frame synchronization or an urgent response as additional information for functions required for the AV service. According to CCITT recommendation "H.261", px64kbps (p = 1-30)
The encoding / decoding method of moving image information at the speed of is defined.

FIG. 7 shows a basic communication processing procedure when multimedia information such as video information, audio information, and data is communicated using a plurality of connections in accordance with the CCITT recommendation (or recommendation draft).

First, in step 701, a first connection is established by starting operation performed by a multimedia communication device (hereinafter referred to as an originating communication device) to start communication. In the case of an ISDN line, this corresponds to a call setup sequence using the D channel. Next, on the connection set in step 702 (B channel in ISDN,
Frame synchronization is established by FAS search and detection, and transmission / detection of A bit = 0. After the frame synchronization is established, in step 703, a capability information exchange sequence for determining whether or not the destination (recipient) communication device has a capability to set an additional connection is performed by a capability information exchange sequence based on BAS transmission and reception detection. Perform

Next, the process proceeds to step 704, where it is determined whether or not it is necessary to set up an additional connection based on the capability information in step 3. If the capability of setting the additional connection is also present in the communication device on the receiving side, it is necessary to set the additional connection. Therefore, the process proceeds to step 705 to establish (set) the additional connection. After that, in step 706, FAS search / detection of the additional connection and establishment processing of frame synchronization / multiframe synchronization and synchronization with the first channel using the A bit are performed.

Thereafter, the process returns to step 4 to determine whether it is necessary to set up an additional connection again. If the receiving side communication device has no ability to set an additional connection, and if there is no need to set an additional connection in step 704, the process proceeds to step 70.
At 7, the transmission mode is switched and the reception mode is switched by detecting the transmission / reception of the BAS command. Then step 70
At 8, the multiplexed communication of the multimedia information is performed in the transmission / reception mode established at step 707, and then the present processing operation is terminated.

Note that the BA performed in step 707 is
The transmission / reception mode switching sequence using the S command may be performed immediately after the execution of step 703, or may be performed as needed each time a connection is added in step 705.

However, in the CCITT recommendation (or draft recommendation), whether the operation for establishing an additional connection should be started by the originating communication device or by the receiving communication device, There are no specific rules about what triggers are. Furthermore, there is no particular definition as to what to do when the setting of the additional connection cannot be established, for example, in the D-channel call control procedure in ISDN.

[0013]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional multimedia communication apparatus, based on the capability information based on the capability information exchange sequence in step 3, the capability for setting an additional connection also in the receiving-side communication device in step 4 is provided. In a communication device in which an additional connection is unconditionally set in step 5 after it is determined that there is, the user does not need to perform an operation conscious of the setting of the additional connection. However, there is a problem in that an additional connection is automatically set, and the line charge is unnecessarily increased.

On the other hand, in a communication apparatus in which the setting of an additional connection is always started by a user operation, the operation is troublesome.

Further, in a communication device which simply performs the same operation for all the other parties (the receiving side communication devices), a completely useless additional connection is established only by the capability of the plurality of additional connections of the other party. There is a lot of waste in economics, because both a remote party and a remote party with a high line fee, such as overseas, are treated the same as a remote party with a short line fee.

Further, after the additional connection setting operation is started, when the additional connection cannot be set as a result, the operation of resetting (retrying) the additional connection is performed by the user, so that the operation is complicated. As a result, mutual communication can be performed without an additional connection, so that there is a problem that the communication is terminated without resetting the additional connection.

Furthermore, despite the fact that the cause of the inability to set an additional connection can be detected by the called-side communication device, it can be dealt with only by the procedure for resetting the additional connection from the calling-side communication device, or by only the user operation. Therefore, there is a problem that the procedure for resetting the additional connection is started unnecessarily, and the additional connection cannot be set again at the time of the restart.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and a first object of the present invention is to reduce the number of operations performed by an operator when setting an additional connection, and to prevent a communication charge from being unnecessarily increased. It is to provide a device.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a multimedia communication apparatus capable of realizing a communication environment in a desired mode without making the user aware of complicated operations.

A third object of the present invention is to provide a multimedia communication apparatus which can obtain a reliable additional connection setting procedure and can set a desired mode without requiring a special operation by a user of a called communication apparatus. It is to be.

A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a multimedia communication device capable of realizing a more reasonable communication environment.

[0022]

In order to achieve the first object, a first aspect of the present invention is to multiplex multimedia information such as audio information, video information, and data via a plurality of connections on a communication line. in multi-media communication apparatus capable intercommunication turned into, whether there are additional connection configurable capabilities to the called party communication device performs capability exchange with the incoming-side communication device at the time of the first connection establishment Determining means for determining, when the determining means determines that the receiving side communication device has the ability to set an additional connection,
Multiplexing and setting means for setting an additional connection, multimedia information according to the number of settings have been connection
A determining means for the determination of transmission mode, the additional Konekushi
And selecting means for selecting and setting an automatic setting state automatically set by the setting means when setting an option.

In order to achieve the first object, it is desirable that the selection means can be selectively set for each receiving communication device.

In order to achieve the above second object, a third aspect of the present invention is to provide a communication system through a plurality of connections on a communication line.
Multimedia information such as audio information, video information, and data.
Communication device capable of multiplexing information and communicating with each other
, When the first connection is established,
Exchanges capability information between the
A judgment tool to judge whether or not the user has the ability to set the action.
Step, and this determination means adds an additional connection to the destination communication device.
When it is determined that there is an ability to set
Setting means for setting the connection, and the set connection
Multiplexing / transmission mode of multimedia information according to the number of
Multiplexing / communication of multimedia information is started by using the connection set at the time when an additional connection cannot be set in spite of the activation of the setting means for determining the mode and the setting means. Communication starting means, a cause detecting means for detecting a cause of the inability to set the additional connection, and a second means for judging the cause detected by the cause detecting means and determining whether to reset the additional connection. and determining means, characterized in that said second determining means and a resetting means for resetting the additional connection can and to determine the effect of resetting the additional connection.

In order to achieve the third object, a fourth aspect of the present invention is to provide a communication system through a plurality of connections on a communication line.
Multimedia information such as audio information, video information, and data.
Communication device capable of multiplexing information and communicating with each other
, When the first connection is established,
Exchanges capability information between the
A judgment tool to judge whether or not the user has the ability to set the action.
Step, and this determination means adds an additional connection to the destination communication device.
When it is determined that there is an ability to set
Setting means for setting the connection, and the set connection
Multiplexing / transmission mode of multimedia information according to the number of
The additional connection from the originating communication device is not set even after a certain period of time has passed, even though the determining means for determining the mode and the determining means have determined that the receiving communication device has the capability to set an additional connection. First detecting means for detecting that the connection cannot be set in the receiving communication device, and cause removing detecting means for detecting that the cause of the inability to set the additional connection has been removed. When the second detecting means detects that the additional connection cannot be set, the receiving side communication device automatically sets the additional connection based on the detection signal of the first detecting means or the detection signal of the cause removal detecting means. And a second setting means for performing the setting.

Further, in order to achieve the fourth object, a fifth aspect of the present invention comprises a starting means for activating the second setting means based on an incoming charge selected on a line for which an incoming charge can be selected. It is characterized by the following.

[0027]

[Action] In the multimedia communication apparatus according to claim 1, performs capability exchange with the incoming-side communication device at the time of the first connection establishment, there is added to the called party communication device connection configurable capabilities When it is determined that an additional connection is established. Then, whether or not the multiplexing and transmission mode of the multimedia information according to the number of settings have been connections are determined. In addition, the additional connection
When the setting is made, the setting means can select and set an automatic setting state in which the additional connection is automatically set.

In the multimedia communication apparatus according to the second aspect, the automatic setting state and the non-automatic setting state can be selectively set for each receiving communication apparatus.

In the multimedia communication apparatus according to the third aspect, when an additional connection cannot be set in spite of activating the setting means, the multimedia communication apparatus uses the connection set at that point in time. The multiplex communication of the media information is started. Further, it is determined whether or not the additional connection is to be re-established by judging the reason why the additional connection could not be established. Furthermore, additional connections can and decided that the re-setting the additional connection is reset.

Further, in the multimedia communication device according to the fourth aspect, even if it is determined that the receiving communication device has an additional connection setting capability, the additional connection from the transmitting communication device has passed for a predetermined time. If not set, an additional connection is automatically set by the called communication device.

Further, in the multimedia communication apparatus according to the fifth aspect, an additional connection is automatically set by the receiving side communication apparatus based on the incoming charge selected on the line where the incoming charge can be selected.

[0032]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a multimedia communication apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a handset (handset) which is one of voice input / output means of the apparatus, and 2 denotes a handset. The microphone 3 as one of the audio input means of the present apparatus is a speaker as one of the audio output means of the present apparatus. The handset 1, the microphone 2 and the speaker 3 are connected to the audio interface unit 4.

The voice interface unit 4 is in a switching process for switching the operation of the handset 1, the microphone 2, and the speaker 3 according to an instruction from the system control unit 14 described later, and the handset 1 is in an on-hook state or an off-hook state. On / off hook detection processing, echo cancellation processing for canceling an echo when the microphone 2 and the speaker 3 are operated, and generation processing of a tone such as a dial tone, a ring tone, a busy tone, and a ring tone. It is connected to a speech encoding / decoding unit 5.

The voice encoding / decoding unit 5 is adapted to transmit 64 kbps PCM A-law, 6
4kbps PCM μ-law, 64kbps / 56kbps / 48kb
psSB-ADPCM, 32kbps ADPCM, 16kbps
(For example, APC-AB), audio signal encoding such as 8 kbps,
According to the decoding algorithm, encode the transmission audio signal,
This is for decoding the received audio signal.

Reference numeral 6 denotes one of the image input means of the present apparatus and a camera for inputting a self-image and the like. Reference numeral 7 denotes one of the image input means of the present apparatus and a document for inputting a picture, drawing, or the like. A camera 8 is an image display unit that displays an input image from the camera 6 or the document camera 7, a received image from the other party, an operation screen, and the like. The camera 6, the document camera 7, and the image display unit 8 It is connected to the video interface unit 9.

The video interface unit 9 switches the image input means, switches the input image, the received image, and the operation screen to the image display unit 8 in accordance with an instruction from the system control unit 14, and displays them on the image display unit 8. It performs a video signal synthesizing process or the like for split display on the above, and is connected to a video encoding / decoding unit (video codec unit) 10.

The video encoding / decoding unit 10 has a CCI
It performs encoding of a transmission video signal and decoding of a reception video signal in accordance with the TT recommendation draft “H.261”.

Reference numeral 11 denotes a data terminal for transmitting / receiving data, which is connected to the data interface unit 12. The data interface unit 12 is a data terminal 1
1 and the transmission data from the system control unit 14 to the demultiplexing unit 17 to be described later, and the reception data to the data terminal 11 or the system control unit 14.

Reference numeral 13 denotes an operation unit such as a keyboard and a touch panel used for inputting control information for performing overall control of the apparatus, and includes an audio interface unit 4, an audio encoding / decoding unit 5, a video interface unit 9, and a video interface unit. Coding/
Along with the decoding unit 10 and the data interface unit 12, it is connected to the system control unit 14.

The system control unit 14 includes a CPU, an RO,
M, RAM, auxiliary storage device, etc., monitor the status of each unit, calculate the assigned transmission speed to each media based on control of the entire device, input control information, use line status, etc., and determine the final mode A D-channel control unit 15 for creating an operation / display screen according to control and status, executing an application program, and performing call control;
And an in-channel control unit 16 for performing in-channel control
And

The audio encoding / decoding unit 5, video encoding / decoding
The decoding unit 10 and the data interface unit 12 are connected to a multiplexing / demultiplexing unit 17. The multiplexing / demultiplexing unit 17 is configured to output the audio signal from the audio encoding / decoding unit 5, the video signal from the video encoding / decoding unit 10, the data interface unit 12 according to the CCITT recommendation “H.221”.
, Data from the system control unit 14, and control information such as CCITT Recommendations “H.221” and “H.242” are multiplexed in units of transmission frames, and the reception frames are separated into each medium of constituent units. Then, each unit is notified, and is connected to the system control unit 14 and the line interface unit 18.

This line interface unit 18 is an ISDN
The line is controlled according to the user / network interface.

The system control unit 14 comprises first and second determination means, cause detection means, second detection means and cause removal detection means. The first determining means determines the multiplexing / transmission mode of the multimedia information according to the finally set number of connections. The second determining means determines the cause of the failure to set the additional connection and determines whether to reset the additional connection. The cause detecting means detects the cause of the failure to set an additional connection.
The second detecting means detects that a connection cannot be set in the receiving communication device. The cause removal detecting means detects that the cause of the failure to set the additional connection has been removed.

The operation section 13 and the system control section 14 constitute a selection means. This selection means,
When an additional connection is set by the additional connection setting means, an automatic setting state automatically set and a non-automatic setting state set by the user are selectively selected and set.

The system control section 14 and the multiplexing / demultiplexing section 17 constitute communication starting means. The communication start means starts multiplex communication of multimedia information by using the connection set at that time when the additional connection cannot be set despite the activation of the additional connection setting means. is there.

The system control section 14 and the multiplexing / demultiplexing section 17 constitute a judging means. The determining means exchanges capability information between the transmitting communication device and the receiving communication device when the first connection is established, and determines whether the receiving communication device has a capability of setting an additional connection. .

Further, the system control section 14 and the line interface section 18 constitute first and second setting means, resetting means and first detecting means, respectively. The first setting means sets an additional connection when the judgment means judges that the receiving-side communication device has a capability of setting an additional connection. When the second detecting means detects that the additional connection cannot be set, the second setting means sets the additional connection based on the detection signal of the first detecting means or the detection signal of the cause removal detecting means from the receiving side communication device. This is set automatically. The resetting means is for automatically resetting the additional connection after a lapse of a predetermined time from the time when the second determining means determines to reset the additional connection. The first detecting means sets an additional connection when the determining means determines that the capability of setting an additional connection to the receiving-side communication device is established. When the second detecting means detects that the additional connection cannot be set, the second setting means sets the additional connection based on the detection signal of the first detecting means or the detection signal of the cause removal detecting means from the receiving side communication device. This is set automatically. The resetting means is for automatically resetting the additional connection after a lapse of a predetermined time from the time when the second determining means determines to reset the additional connection. The first detecting means detects that no additional connection is set by the transmitting communication apparatus after a predetermined time has passed, even though the determining means has determined that the receiving communication apparatus has an ability to set an additional connection. Things.

Next, the communication control operation of the multimedia communication apparatus according to the present invention having the above configuration will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step 201, a method of setting an additional connection for each required partner (receiving side communication device),
That is, whether the setting is automatically made or set by the user is registered. Step 202 and subsequent steps show the operation after the actual setting procedure is started.

First, in step 202, the first communication between the own device (the communication device on the transmitting side) and the other device (the communication device on the receiving side) is performed.
Establish a connection. Next, the process proceeds to step 203, where frame synchronization is established by FAS search / detection / A bit transmission / detection on the first connection, and capability determination of the partner device based on a capability information exchange sequence procedure using capability BAS, ie, additional connection A determination is made as to whether or not there is a configurable capability, and if necessary, a multimedia multiplexing structure on the first connection is provisionally determined.
A transmission / reception mode is determined by executing a mode switching sequence procedure using an S command, and communication is started.

Next, the process proceeds to step 204, where it is determined whether or not an additional connection needs to be set based on the capability of the own device and the capability of the partner device determined in step 203. Step 20 if additional connections need to be set
Proceeding to step 5, the procedure for setting an additional connection to the destination is determined based on the setting method registered in step 201.

Here, if the setting method of setting an additional connection has been selected for the other party by the user's judgment, it is determined in step 206 whether or not to set an additional connection in the display unit 8 of FIG. To prompt the user to make a decision. The user indicates the content of the determination using the operation unit 13 in FIG.

Here, when the user instructs to set an additional connection, and when the setting method for automatically setting an additional connection is selected in the previous step 205, the setting of the additional connection is started in step 207. Then, this processing operation ends. If it is not necessary to set an additional connection in step 204, or if it is instructed not to set an additional connection in step 206, only the current connection is continued and the processing ends.

Although the above embodiment has been described on the assumption that one additional connection is used, the same applies to a case of a plurality of additional connections. Also, the case of registering the setting method of the additional connection for each destination has been described. However, it is possible to operate by the mode setting of the communication device at that time, or to set the operation based on the destination address group instead of the specific destination. It is. It is also possible to register a method of setting a default additional connection of a destination that has not been registered.

Next, the communication processing operation of the multimedia communication apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step 301, a first connection is established between the own apparatus and the other apparatus. Next, in step 302, the FAS search /
Detection, establishment of frame synchronization by transmitting and detecting the A bit, and capability determination of the partner device based on a capability information exchange sequence procedure using the capability BAS. If necessary, a multimedia multiplexing structure on the first connection is provisionally established. The transmission / reception mode is determined by executing the mode switching sequence procedure using the BAS command, and communication is started.

Next, proceeding to step 303, it is determined whether or not it is necessary to set up an additional connection based on the capability determination result of the partner device based on the capability information exchange sequence procedure determined in step 302. If it is determined that the setting of the additional connection is necessary, the process proceeds to step 304, and the setting of the additional connection is started. Then, step 3
At 05, it is determined whether or not an additional connection has been set.

If the additional connection has not been set for some reason, the process proceeds to step 306, where the reason is determined, and it is determined whether or not the additional connection is automatically reset. If it is determined that the connection should be reset, a timer for resetting the additional connection is started in the next step 307. Next, in step 308, the process waits until the reset start timer times out. When the time is up, the process returns to step 304, and the setting of the additional connection is started again.

When it is determined in step 303 that no additional connection needs to be set, when the additional connection has been set in step 305,
If it is determined in step 6 that the additional connection could not be set, but it is determined that it is not necessary to automatically reset the connection, the process proceeds to step 309, and the final transmission mode / reception mode is set according to the number of connections at that time. Is determined by the mode switching sequence based on the BAS command, and the multimedia multiplex communication according to each mode is started, and then the present processing operation is ended.

Although the second embodiment has been described on the assumption that one additional connection is used, the same applies to a case of a plurality of additional connections. Further, the determination as to whether or not to reset the additional connection is not made only based on the reason that the additional connection cannot be set, but may be determined by the other party.

Next, the communication processing operation according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

First, in step 401, a first connection between the own apparatus and the other apparatus is established. Next, in step 402, the FAS search /
Detection, establishment of frame synchronization by transmitting and detecting the A bit, and capability determination of the partner device based on a capability information exchange sequence procedure using the capability BAS. If necessary, a multimedia multiplexing structure on the first connection is provisionally established. The transmission / reception mode is determined by executing the mode switching sequence procedure using the BAS command, and communication is started.

Next, proceeding to step 403, it is determined whether or not it is necessary to set up an additional connection based on the capability determination result of the partner device based on the capability information exchange sequence procedure determined in step 402. If it is determined that the setting of the additional connection is necessary, the process proceeds to step 404, and first, the setting of the additional connection is started from the transmitting side apparatus (own apparatus) of the first connection.

Next, at step 405, it is determined whether or not an additional connection has been set. If the additional connection has not been set, the process proceeds to step 406, and if the additional connection could not be set at the receiving side device (the partner device), it is determined whether or not it was clearly detected that the cause was the own device side. to decide. For example, if the own device terminal is 1
If it can be clearly determined that the channel is being used for data communication with another device, the process proceeds to step 407, where the factor is canceled and, in the above example, the data communication is terminated. wait.

If the cause is released, step 408
Then, the setting of the additional connection is started from the receiving side device. Thereafter, the process returns to step 405. If it is determined in step 406 that the receiving side apparatus cannot detect the cause of the fact that the additional connection has not been set, the process proceeds to step 409 to start a timer.

Next, at step 410, it is determined whether or not the additional connection has been reset and activated by the transmitting apparatus. Then, if the reset of the additional connection from the originating apparatus is performed, the process returns to step 405. If the reset is not performed, the process proceeds to step 411 to determine whether the timer started in step 409 has timed out. Judge.

If the timer has timed out in step 411, the process proceeds to step 408, and if not, the process returns to step 410. When it is determined in step 403 that no additional connection needs to be set, and when it is determined in step 405 that an additional connection has been set, step 41 is performed.
2, the final transmission mode / reception mode is determined by the mode switching sequence procedure based on the BAS command in accordance with the number of connections at that time, and multimedia multiplex mutual communication according to each mode is started to perform this processing operation. To end.

Although the third embodiment has been described on the assumption that one additional connection is used, the same applies to a case of a plurality of additional connections. Step 41
It is also possible for the other party to determine whether or not to execute the setting start of the additional connection from the receiving side device after the time-out of the timer in step 1 and after the factor in step 407 has been canceled.

[0069]

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention,
According to the multimedia communication apparatus, performs capability exchange with the incoming-side communication device at the time of the first connection establishment, it is determined whether there are additional connection configurable capabilities to the receiving communication device When setting up an additional connection, when communicating with a specific destination that is constantly communicating, you can reduce the user's operation by automatically selecting and setting the state to set up an additional connection. It is possible to do.

Further, by selecting and setting a state in which an additional connection is set at the time of long-distance / overseas communication by a user's judgment, it is possible to prevent a line charge from being unnecessarily increased.

Further, according to the multimedia communication apparatus of the second aspect, it is possible to selectively set a state in which an additional connection is automatically set and a state in which the additional connection is set by a user for each receiving side communication apparatus. Fine-grained setting management can be performed.

According to the multimedia communication device of the third aspect of the present invention, when the initial setting of the additional connection is not established, the resetting can be executed based on the reason. Without being aware of
Execution of the communication environment in a desired mode can be realized.

Further, according to the multimedia communication apparatus of the fourth aspect, when the setting of the additional connection is not established, it is obvious that another channel is being used for data communication with another communication apparatus by the receiving communication apparatus. When the cause is detected, the originating communication device cannot know the timing when the channel becomes available. It is possible to execute the additional connection setting procedure. In addition, even though the additional connection can be set, the transmission side communication device does not set the additional connection even after a certain period of time has elapsed, and when the reception side communication device is in a mode in which the additional connection is desired to be set, the certain period of time elapses. Thereafter, it is possible to automatically activate the additional connection setting from the receiving side, so that the receiving side user can realize the desired mode setting without requiring any special operation.

Further, according to the multimedia communication apparatus of the fifth aspect of the present invention, when the additional connection is set from the receiving side communication apparatus, the incoming charge is selected in order to solve the problem of the line charge and the like. In a possible line, a start-up means for starting by incoming charge is provided, so that a more reasonable communication environment can be obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a multimedia communication device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a communication control procedure of the device.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a communication control procedure of a multimedia communication device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a communication control procedure of a multimedia communication device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a frame structure diagram shown in CCITT recommendation “H.221”;

Fig. 6: FA shown in CCITT recommendation "H.221"
It is a bit allocation figure in the multi-frame of S and BAS.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a communication processing procedure of a conventional multimedia communication device.

[Explanation of symbols]

13 operation section (selection means) 14 system control section (first and second determination means, first and second setting means, cause detection means, second detection means, cause removal detection means, selection means, determination means, communication start Means) 17 multiplexing / demultiplexing unit (judgment means, communication start means) 18 line interface unit (first and second determination means, resetting means, first detection means)

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Claims (5)

(57) [Claims] Via a plurality of connections on the 1. A communication line, audio information, video information, in a multi-media communication apparatus capable intercommunication by multiplexing multimedia information such as data, incoming at the first connection establishment determining means for determining whether there are additional connection configurable capabilities to the called party communication device performs capability exchange with the side communications device, it can be added connection setting the determination unit to the receiving-side communication device when it is determined that there is a capability, setting setting means for setting an additional connection, determining means for performing determination of multiplexing and transmission mode of the multimedia information according to the number of settings have been connections, the additional connection The setting means
And a selecting means for selecting and setting an automatic setting state for automatically setting the multimedia communication device. 2. The multimedia communication device according to claim 1, wherein said selection means is capable of selecting and setting for each receiving-side communication device. (3)Via multiple connections on a communication line
Multimedia information such as audio information, video information, and data.
Communication device capable of multiplexing information and communicating with each other
At Capability with the destination communication device when the first connection is established
Exchanges information and establishes additional connections to the called communication device.
Determining means for determining whether there is a definable ability; This judging means adds an additional connection to the destination communication device.
When it is determined that there is a configurable capability, additional connection
Setting means for setting the Multimedia information according to the number of configured connections
Deciding means for deciding the multiplexing / transmission mode of the information,  Despite activating the above setting means, additional connection
If settings cannot be made, the connection
Multiplexing and communication of multimedia information using
Means for starting communication and detecting the cause of the failure to set the additional connection.
Cause detection means, and a cause detected by the cause detection means.
Second determining means for determining whether or not to reset the connection, and a notice that the second determining means resets the additional connection.
DecidedFollowResetting means for resetting connection
A multimedia communication device comprising: (4)Via multiple connections on a communication line
Multimedia information such as audio information, video information, and data.
Communication device capable of multiplexing information and communicating with each other
At Capability with the destination communication device when the first connection is established
Exchanges information and establishes additional connections to the called communication device.
Determining means for determining whether there is a definable ability; This judging means adds an additional connection to the destination communication device.
When it is determined that there is a configurable capability, additional connection
Setting means for setting the Multimedia information according to the number of configured connections
Deciding means for deciding the multiplexing / transmission mode of the information,  The above-mentioned determination means sets an additional connection to the called communication device.
Outgoing communication device despite having determined that it is capable
Even after a certain period of additional connections,
And the first detecting means for detecting that the connection cannot be set by the receiving side communication device.
The second detection means to be notified and the cause of the failure to set the additional connection can be eliminated.
No additional connection can be set by the cause removal detecting means for detecting that
Is detected by the receiving side communication device, the
1 The detection signal of the detection means or the detection of the cause removal detection means
Automatically set up additional connections based on knowledge signals
Multimedia comprising two setting means
Communication device. 5. The multimedia communication apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising: a start-up unit that starts the second setting unit based on an incoming charge selected on a line for which an incoming charge can be selected. Media communication device.