JP4469745B2 - CONFERENCE SYSTEM AND ITS PROCESSING METHOD - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a conference system for performing a so-called electronic conference by communicating video, audio, and data with a plurality of counterpart terminals via a communication network, a communication terminal used therefor, an image display method, and a storage medium. In particular, the present invention relates to a technique for controlling display of a shared window shared by a plurality of conference participants.

  In a conference system that conducts so-called electronic conferences by communicating video, audio, and data with multiple parties over a communication network, the same content is displayed on all terminals used by conference participants, and accessed from all terminals Providing a possible shared window is widely known as a shared whiteboard or the like.

  However, in the conventional shared window, the contents once written in the shared window remain displayed on the shared window indefinitely unless the conference participant performs a predetermined erasing operation. Therefore, there is a drawback that even for contents of a memo temporarily written, a predetermined erasing operation must be performed when the display is erased from the shared window.

  The present invention has been made to eliminate such drawbacks. With regard to the desired written contents, the written contents can be erased from the shared window without performing an erase operation one by one. The purpose is to.

The conference system of the present invention is a conference system for conducting an electronic conference, and when a drawing object is written in a shared window in a state where a permanent drawing function is specified by a specifying unit, an erasing operation is performed by an operator. When the drawing object written in the shared window is displayed in the shared window and the drawing object is written in the shared window in a state where the temporary drawing function is designated by the designation unit, the drawing object is written in the shared window. Control means for causing the drawn object to blink after a predetermined time has elapsed since the drawing object was written and then erased from the shared window.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to specify either permanent display contents or temporary display contents when writing to the shared window, and what is written as temporary display contents is written. Therefore, the user is automatically erased after a lapse of a predetermined time, so that the user does not have to perform troublesome erasure operations one by one.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a functional configuration of a conference system and a communication terminal used therefor, for the sake of convenience, illustrating an embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, the display means (1) displays a video (moving image), a still image, text data, or the like when conducting an electronic conference by communicating with a plurality of other parties via a communication network (8). Is what you do. This display means (1) has a shared window (2) shared by all conference participants.

  The writing means (3) writes desired contents on the shared window (2). The contents written on the shared window (2) of the own terminal by the writing means (3) are sent to the other terminal (not shown) via the communication network (8) by the communication means (7). The same content is also displayed in the shared window. The designation means (4) designates whether or not the contents written on the shared window (2) by the writing means (3) are temporarily displayed on the shared window (2).

  The control means (5) has a time measuring means (6), and when the designated means (4) designates “temporary”, the writing content is written after a lapse of a certain time from writing. (2) Control to erase from above. At this time, the control means (5) deletes the corresponding written contents from the shared window (2) of its own terminal, and communicates with the other terminal (not shown) via the communication network (8) by the communication means (7). A control signal is sent, and control is performed so as to erase the corresponding written contents from the shared window of the partner terminal.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment for realizing the functions of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, and is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a desktop video conference system based on a personal computer.

  In FIG. 2, 1 is a CPU that controls the entire system according to a program, 2 is a ROM that stores a program group such as a window system and BIOS (basic input / output system), and 3 is a temporary shared window control program and data. 4 is a timer for monitoring time, 5 is an auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk, 6 is a keyboard, 7 is a mouse, and 8 is a video display unit compatible with VGA (Video Graphics Array) or the like.

  Further, 9 is a monitor for displaying personal computer graphics, received moving images, and the like, 10 is an ITU-T recommendation H.264. A video processing unit that performs video encoding / decoding processing according to H.261, pre-processing and post-processing thereof, 11 is a camera for inputting a self-portrait, 12 is line control processing according to an ISDN user network interface, and ITU- T Recommendation H. 22 is a communication processing unit that performs demultiplexing processing of data according to 221; 13 is a speech processing unit that performs speech encoding / decoding processing and echo cancellation processing; 14 is a microphone; 15 is a speaker; and 16 is a bus.

  The display means (1) in FIG. 1 corresponds to the monitor 9 in FIG. 2, and this monitor 9 includes a shared window. Further, the writing means (3) and the designation means (4) in FIG. 1 include the keyboard 6 and the mouse 7 in FIG. Further, the control means (5) in FIG. 1 is constituted by the CPU 1, the ROM 2, the RAM 3 and the timer 4 in FIG. 2, and the timer 4 corresponds to the time measuring means (6) in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of the shared window 200 displayed on the monitor 9 in the video conference system shown in FIG.
In FIG. 3, 201 is a title bar, 202 is a menu bar, 203 is a drawing toolbar, and 204 is a shared area shared by all conference participants.

  A conference participant can write in the shared area 204 using the functions indicated by the menu bar 202 and the drawing toolbar 203. The contents written in the shared area 204 are sent to the communication network via the communication processing unit 12 of FIG. 2, and the same contents are also displayed in the shared area 204 of the communication partner.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a more detailed configuration example of the drawing toolbar 203 of the shared window 200 shown in FIG.
In FIG. 4, 301 is a permanent drawing button for writing a semi-permanent drawing object to the shared area 204, and 302 is a temporary drawing button for writing a temporary drawing object to the shared area 204.

  When the mouse 7 is clicked on the buttons 301 and 302, the buttons 301 and 302 are pressed, and a button press event is notified from the window system to the shared window control program. In addition, when the buttons 301 and 302 are pressed, when the mouse 7 is clicked on the buttons 301 and 302, the buttons 301 and 302 are brought into a non-pressed state. Button return event is notified.

  The permanent drawing button 301 and the temporary drawing button 302 are in a toggle relationship. For example, if the temporary drawing button 302 is pressed while the permanent drawing button 301 is pressed, the temporary drawing button 302 is pressed and the permanent drawing button 302 is displayed. The button 301 is not pressed.

  When the buttons 301 and 302 are in a pressed state, a drawing object is written in the shared area 204 along the locus of mouse drag by performing a drag operation of the mouse 7 in the shared area 204. In addition, by operating the keyboard 6, it is possible to write a character or the like at a position where there is a cursor (not shown) in the shared area 204.

  The drawing object written in the shared area 204 when the permanent drawing button 301 is pressed remains displayed on the shared area 204 (including that of the other terminal) unless the conference participant subsequently performs a predetermined erasing operation. is there. On the other hand, the drawing object written in the shared area 204 when the temporary drawing button 302 is pressed is automatically deleted from the shared area 204 after a predetermined time has elapsed since the writing. This will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a drawing object management table 400 for managing drawing objects written in the shared area 204 of FIG. 3, which is information stored in the RAM 3 shown in FIG. 2.

  In FIG. 5, reference numeral 401 denotes an object identifier field, which stores an identifier for identifying a written drawing object. Reference numeral 402 denotes an object type field that stores type information indicating whether the written drawing object is to be permanently displayed in the shared area 204 or to be temporarily displayed.

  Reference numeral 403 denotes a timer counter field, which stores the time until the written drawing object is erased when it is temporarily displayed. Reference numeral 404 denotes an object data field, which stores the coordinate value of each point constituting the written drawing object. As shown in FIG. 5, the drawing object management table 400 includes a plurality of records indicating individual drawing objects.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the operation of the video conference system according to the present embodiment. When the temporary drawing button 302 is in a pressed state, a mouse drag operation is performed in the shared area 204 to change from the window system to the shared window control program. Indicates the processing of the notified mouse event. The operation of this embodiment will be described below according to this flowchart.

  First, in step S501, it is determined whether the generated event is a mouse button down event. If so, the process proceeds to step S502, and if not, the process proceeds to step S504. In step S502, an object identifier is generated and registered in the object identifier field 401 of the empty record in the drawing object management table 400 of FIG.

  In the next step S503, the coordinate value of the current mouse pointer notified together with the mouse button down event is registered in the object data field 404 of the corresponding record in the drawing object management table 400 as the starting data of the drawing object. Exit.

  On the other hand, in step S504, it is determined whether the generated event is a mouse movement event. If so, the process proceeds to step S505, and if not, the process proceeds to step S507. In step S505, the coordinate value of the current mouse pointer notified together with the mouse movement event is registered in the object data field 404 of the corresponding record in the drawing object management table 400 as halfway data of the drawing object.

  In the next step S506, a straight line connecting the coordinates of the previous point registered in the object data field 404 of the corresponding record in the drawing object management table 400 and the coordinates of the current point is drawn in the shared area 204, The process ends. In step S507 branched from step S504, it is determined whether the generated event is a mouse button up event. If so, the process proceeds to step S508. If not, the process ends.

  In step S508, the coordinate value of the current mouse pointer notified together with the mouse button up event is registered in the object data field 404 of the corresponding record in the drawing object management table 400 as end point data of the drawing object. In the next step S509, a straight line connecting the coordinates of the previous point registered in the object data field 404 of the corresponding record in the drawing object management table 400 and the coordinates of the current point is drawn in the shared area 204.

  In step S510, the object type field 402 of the corresponding record in the drawing object management table 400 is set to “temporary”. In step S511, a preset value T indicating the time until the corresponding drawing object is deleted is set in the timer counter field 403 of the corresponding record in the drawing object management table 400, and the process ends.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the operation of the video conference system according to the present embodiment, and shows the processing of the timer event notified from the window system to the shared window control program. Less than. The operation of this embodiment will be described according to this flowchart.

  First, in step S601, the first record is set in the corresponding record pointer P of the drawing object management table 400 of FIG. In the next step S602, it is determined whether or not the pointer P has exceeded the final record of the drawing object management table 400. If the pointer P has exceeded the final record, the process ends. If not, the process proceeds to step S603.

  In step S603, it is determined whether or not the object type of the corresponding record is a “temporary” object. If it is a “temporary” object, the process proceeds to step S604, and if not, the process jumps to step S607. In step S604, the value stored in the timer counter field 403 of the corresponding record is decreased by ΔT.

  In the next step S605, it is determined whether or not the value stored in the timer counter field 403 of the record is 0. If it is 0, the process proceeds to step S606, and if not, the process jumps to 607. In step S606, since the specified time has elapsed, the corresponding record is deleted from the drawing object management table 400, and the drawing object written in the shared area 204 is deleted.

In step S607, the pointer P indicating the corresponding record in the object management table 400 is advanced to the next record, and the process returns to step S602.
As described above, the drawing object written when the temporary drawing button 302 is pressed is automatically deleted from the shared area 204 after a predetermined time T has elapsed.

  In the above embodiment, the time from the writing to the shared area 204 until the erasing is determined in advance. However, the user may arbitrarily set the time.

<Other embodiments>
In the above embodiment, what is drawn in the shared area 204 by a temporary drawing instruction is automatically deleted after a predetermined time has elapsed. However, in this configuration, depending on the set value for a predetermined time, the operator may delete without notice even though he does not want to delete it.

In the following embodiments, the predetermined time is set in two stages in consideration of the above points.
For example, the first predetermined time is set to a time when the drawing drawn as described above is automatically deleted, the second predetermined time is set to a time before the first predetermined time, When the predetermined time of 2 is reached, the drawing data to be erased is displayed in a blinking manner, and the operator is notified that the drawing data will be erased after a while.

  On the other hand, on the shared window (shared area 204 in FIG. 3), how many times the drawing data is to be erased when the drawing data blinks is always displayed as a multi-window. Further, by instructing the extension button 303 in FIG. 4, the time until deletion is extended as a predetermined time.

With the above configuration, the data drawn by the temporary drawing instruction blinks prior to erasing, so if the operator does not want to erase the drawing data yet, it is possible to extend the time until erasing by issuing an extension instruction It becomes.
In the above configuration, the drawing data to be erased is configured to blink. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and various display change processes such as changing the drawing color to a specific color may be used. Needless to say.

The above-described embodiment may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or an apparatus composed of one device.
Further, the processing method for storing the program for operating the configuration of the above-described embodiment so as to realize the function of the above-described embodiment in a storage medium and executing the present embodiment according to the program stored in the storage medium is also described above. It is included in the category of the embodiment, and a storage medium storing the above-described program is also included in the above-described embodiment.

As such a storage medium, for example, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.
Further, the present invention is not limited to the processing executed by a single program stored in the above-described storage medium, and operates on an OS (operating system) in cooperation with other software and an expansion board function. Those that perform the above operations are also included in the category of the above-described embodiment.

It is a functional block diagram which shows the function structure of the conference system which concerns on this invention, and the communication terminal used for this. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an embodiment for realizing the function of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, and is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a desktop video conference system based on a personal computer. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the shared window displayed on the monitor in the video conference system shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a more detailed structure about the drawing toolbar of the shared window shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a drawing object management table for managing drawing objects written in the shared area of FIG. 3, which is information stored in the RAM shown in FIG. 2. 6 is a flowchart showing mouse event processing (drawing processing) performed by a mouse drag operation in a shared area when the temporary drawing button in FIG. 4 is in a pressed state. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a timer event process for performing automatic display deletion of a drawing object written when a temporary drawing button in FIG. 4 is pressed;

Explanation of symbols

(1) Display means (2) Shared window (3) Write means (4) Designation means (5) Control means (6) Timekeeping means (7) Communication means (8) Communication network 1 CPU
2 ROM
3 RAM
4 Timer 5 Auxiliary Storage Device 6 Keyboard 7 Mouse 8 Video Display Unit 9 Monitor 10 Video Processing Unit 11 Camera 12 Communication Processing Unit 13 Audio Processing Unit 14 Microphone 15 Speaker 16 Bus

Claims (6)

A conference system for conducting an electronic conference,
When a drawing object is written in the shared window in a state where the permanent drawing function is designated by the designation means, the drawing object written in the shared window is displayed on the shared window until an erasing operation by an operator is performed,
When a drawing object is written in the shared window while the temporary drawing function is specified by the specifying means, the drawing object written in the shared window is blinked after a predetermined time has elapsed since the drawing object was written. And a control means for erasing the shared window from the shared window.   2. The conference system according to claim 1, further comprising display means for displaying a permanent drawing button for designating the permanent drawing function and a temporary drawing button for designating the temporary drawing function.   Along with the identifier of the written drawing object, whether the written drawing object is written in a state where the permanent drawing function is designated by the designation means, or written in a state where the temporary drawing function is designated by the designation means Storage means for storing type information indicating whether the drawing object is displayed, and the control means controls display of the drawing object based on the identifier and type information of the drawing object stored by the storage means. The conference system according to claim 1 or 2. A method of processing a conference system for conducting an electronic conference,
A first control step of causing the shared window to display a drawing object written in the shared window until the erasing operation by the operator is performed when the permanent drawing function is specified by the specifying means;
When the temporary drawing function is designated by the designation means, the drawing object written in the shared window is erased from the shared window after blinking a predetermined time after the drawing object is written . And a control method for the conference system.   5. The processing method of the conference system according to claim 4, further comprising a display step of displaying a permanent drawing button for specifying the permanent drawing function and a temporary drawing button for specifying the temporary drawing function. . Along with the identifier of the written drawing object, whether the written drawing object is written in a state where the permanent drawing function is designated by the designation means, or written in a state where the temporary drawing function is designated by the designation means A storage step of storing in the storage means type information indicating whether or not
6. The display control of the drawing object is executed based on an identifier and type information of the drawing object stored by the storage means in the first and second control steps. Processing method of the conference system.

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