JPH08317364A - Video conference system, video conference terminal equipment and control method for the same - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To simplify call origination for an answer in respect of reception during. absence. CONSTITUTION: When a message is received during absence, a message processor 24 stores that message. A discriminating means 28 of a telephone directory application 26 discriminates whether that message comes from a registered opposite party or not. When it comes from the registered opposite party, a list updating means ranks the data of that opposite party on the first display order and descends the display order of high-order data. According to the display order, a list display means 32 displays the list of registered data.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a video conference system,
The present invention relates to a video conference terminal device and a control method thereof.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional video conferencing system (or video conferencing system) has a function of receiving and accumulating a message from the other party even if the user is away from his / her seat (so-called absence recording function). There is. Messages from the other party are stored in a hard disk device, a video tape recorder, or the like. At the same time, information about who received the message is added to the waiting list. In this waiting list, the name of the person who sent the message, the telephone number, and the storage location or file name of the message are entered. By referring to this waiting list, the user can reproduce the message received while he / she is out and can know the sender. This is basically the same function as a voice mail answering machine.

[0003]

However, in the conventional video conference system, a record of message reception is left as a waiting list and only an unread list of received messages is shown.

Normally, when a user sees or reads a recorded message, it is necessary to send a reply to the same party, and for that purpose, a video conference connection is made to the partner terminal. At this time, in the conventional example, the telephone number software or the telephone directory software written on the paper and installed in the terminal is referred to check the other party's telephone number or address and make a call there. Finding out the phone number of the other party is sometimes very troublesome.

It is an object of the present invention to eliminate such an inconvenience and to provide a video conference terminal device and a control method therefor capable of easily making a call for reply.

[0006] The telephone directory software is application software for registering and managing information about a user who is a partner site of the video conference system. When calling from the own site to the partner site, telephone number input and calling are performed. , There is an effect that it can be done by the designation of the opponent.
The user name of the other site, the network address of the terminal, the telephone number, the address and other additional information must be entered in advance on the own site. Not only the input work, but also the other party's telephone number and address. It is troublesome to check information such as.

[0007] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a video conference system which simplifies the registration work in name list management software such as telephone directory software.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a video conference system capable of easily registering the identification information of its own site in the telephone directory of the other site.

[0009]

A video conference terminal device according to the present invention is a terminal device for a video conference system, and whether or not a sender of a received message is already registered in predetermined roster registration data. A list display means for displaying a list of the name list registration data and a display order changing means for changing the display order of the name list registration data. If registered, the display order changing means places the registration data of the sender of the received message at a position corresponding to the top position of the list display data in the list registration data, and the sender of the received message. It is characterized in that other registration data positioned at a higher level is sequentially carried down.

A control method for a video conference terminal device according to the present invention is a method for controlling the display of the name list registration data in a communication conference terminal device that holds the name list registration data. The judgment step for judging whether or not the registration message is already registered in the name list registration data, and the reception message concerned when it is judged in the judgment step that the sender of the reception message is already registered in the name list registration data. The registration data of the sender of the above is arranged at a position corresponding to the head position of the list display data in the list display data, and the display order changing step of sequentially rolling down other registration data positioned higher than the sender of the received message. It is characterized by consisting of.

A video conference system according to the present invention is a video conference system for conducting a video conference between communication terminal devices installed at a plurality of points, wherein each communication terminal device transfers its own identification information to an identification information management device. However, each communication terminal device participating in the video conference reads the identification information of another communication terminal device from the identification information management device.

The video conference system according to the present invention also includes
A video conferencing system for connecting communication terminal devices at a plurality of points by communication lines, and a means for mutually transferring identification information including information necessary for establishing a communication path between the communication terminals between the communication terminals. It is characterized by having.

[0013]

By the above means, when a message is received while the user is away, the sender is displayed on the top of the list, so that the calling operation for replying is simplified.

Since the identification information of the video conference participants is accumulated in the identification information management device such as the multipoint connection control device and each communication terminal device only needs to read the accumulation result, the user of each communication terminal device is allowed to use the other conferences. Identification data such as participant names and telephone numbers can be efficiently obtained. By applying this between two parties, the identification information of the other party can be automatically newly registered or updated in the telephone directory application or the like.

[0015]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a video conference terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Reference numeral 10 is a video camera, 12 is a display monitor, and 14 is a video processing device that encodes the input video from the camera 10 for transmission, decodes the encoded received video, and supplies the decoded video to the monitor 12. The image processing device 14 also includes the camera 1.
An input image of 0 or a combined image of the input image and the received image can be supplied to the monitor 12. Such a function of the image processing device 14 is well known.

Reference numeral 16 is a microphone as a voice input means, 18 is a speaker, and 20 is an audio processing apparatus which encodes the input sound from the microphone 16 for transmission, decodes the encoded received sound and supplies it to the speaker 18. Is.

Reference numeral 22 is a communication control device for controlling connection and communication with a communication line, and 24 is a large-capacity storage device.
A message processing device that processes the accumulation, reproduction, and deletion of received messages.

Reference numeral 26 is a telephone directory application software, which is a determining means 28 for determining whether or not the sender name of the received message is already registered in the telephone directory.
And a list updating means 30 for updating the list of registered contents
And a list display means 32 for displaying a list of registration lists in the order updated by the list update means 30.

Reference numeral 34 denotes a system control device for controlling the whole, which is composed of a CPU, a ROM and a RAM. Video processing device 14, audio processing device 20, message processing device 2
4. All or part of the functions of the telephone directory application 30 are specifically realized as software on the CPU. In the present embodiment, these are shown as functional blocks separate from the system control device 34 for easy understanding.

FIG. 2 shows an operation flowchart of this embodiment. The characteristic operation of the device shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the process from receiving a message to updating the list display will be described. The message received from the communication partner is transferred to the system control device 34 via the communication control device 22, and is accumulated and stored in the storage device of the message processing device 24. When the message receiving operation is finished and the communication line is disconnected by the operation of the communication partner side and the communication control device 22 detects it (S1), the communication control device 22 notifies the system control device 34 of the communication end. In response to the communication end notification, the system control device 34 instructs the message processing device 24 to end the message recording process and ends the message recording.

Since the information indicating the originator (for example, the sender name, the network address of the originating terminal, and / or the telephone number) is added to the received message,
The system control device 34 extracts the sender name of the message from the received message, and the phonebook application 26
(S2).

The determination means 28 which has received the information of the sender name is
The sender name is searched from the registered data in the telephone directory, and the presence / absence of registration is notified to the list updating means 30 (S3). If the sender of the received message is not registered in the telephone directory application 26 (S3), the registration list is not updated and the process ends. If the sender of the received message is registered in the phonebook application 26 (S3),
The list updating means 30 updates the display order of the registration list so that the sender of the received message is at the top of the registration list (S4). The list updating means 30 simultaneously
Register the existence of the received message in the phone book.

When the registered contents of the telephone directory are currently displayed as a list (S6), the list display means 32 causes the list update means 30 to display a list of registration lists in the order updated in S4 (S6).

FIG. 3 shows the format of registration data in the telephone directory application 26. It consists of a registered name (name, etc.) (20 bytes), a telephone number (20 bytes), the name of the company to which it belongs (40 bytes), a display order (2 bytes), and the presence or absence of a message (1 byte). For example, as shown in FIG. 4, when four people are already registered and a message is received from Mr. Ito, who is in the fourth display order,
The list updating means 30 sets the display order value of Mr. Ito to 1 and adds 1 to the data of the display order of the first, second and third registrations. At the same time, the list updating means 30
Changes the column of Mr. Ito's received message from data indicating "absent" to data indicating "present". List display means 32
Will list each registration in ascending order of display order. The order of the list display is as shown in FIG. 5, and Mr. Ito is displayed at the top. The field of the received message becomes “present”.

Next, an embodiment of a video conference system which simplifies the registration work to the telephone directory software will be explained. FIG. 7 shows an overall configuration diagram of the video conference system.
Shows a schematic block diagram of a terminal device for the video conference system. The terminal shown in FIG. 7 is connected to the multipoint connection control device 140 in a star shape as the sites A, B, and C shown in FIG. The multipoint connection control device 140 is shown in FIG.
A terminal device having substantially the same configuration as that shown in is connected.

The terminal configuration shown in FIG. 7 will be described. 110 is a video camera, 112 is a display monitor, 114
Encodes the input video from the camera 110 for transmission, decodes the encoded received video, and monitors the monitor 11
2 is a video processing device. Video processing device 114
Also, the input image from the camera 110 or a composite image of the input image and the received image can be supplied to the monitor 112.
Such a function of the image processing device 114 is well known.

Reference numeral 116 is a microphone as a voice input means, 118 is a speaker, and 120 is the microphone 11.
6 is a voice processing device that encodes the input voice of 6 for transmission, decodes the encoded received voice, and supplies the decoded voice to the speaker 118.

Reference numeral 122 is a communication control device for controlling connection and communication with a communication line.

Reference numeral 126 is a telephone directory application software, which transfers the identification information of its own site to the designated communication partner, and the internal format of the identification information transferred from the multipoint connection control device 140 or the terminal of the communication partner. The data processing means 128 for converting the registered data into the data and the registration data management means 130 for managing the registration data. Information regarding the communication partner transferred from the multipoint connection control device 140, the data processing means 128, and the registered data management means 1
Details of 30 will be described later.

Reference numeral 132 denotes a system control device for controlling the whole, which is composed of a CPU, a ROM and a RAM. All or part of the functions of the video processing device 114, the audio processing device 120, and the telephone directory application 126 are specifically,
It is realized as software on the CPU. In this embodiment, in order to facilitate understanding, the system control device 1
These are illustrated as functional blocks different from 32.

In this embodiment, the information of the users who participate in the video conference is transferred to the multipoint control unit 140, and each user acquires the information of other users from the multipoint control unit 140. FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of the operation.

First, the identification information of its own site (name, network address or telephone number, affiliation and address, etc.) is transferred to the multipoint connection control device 140. That is, when the telephone directory application 126 is activated after communication has been established between the own site and the multipoint control device 140 and data transfer is possible, the telephone directory application 126 is activated.
First, the identification information of the user of the own site is displayed as shown in FIG. As data items, registered name, address, company name, telephone number (or network address), remarks,
And image data such as a facial photograph.

When the user presses the transfer button,
When the instruction to transfer the identification information of the own site to the multipoint connection control device 140 is given, the registration data management means 130 of the telephone directory application 126 reads the above identification information of the own site and transfers it to the data processing means 128 for data processing. The means 128 puts the identification information of its own site into a transfer format as shown in FIG. 10 (S11), and supplies this transfer data to the system controller 132. The system controller 132 transfers this transfer data to the multipoint connection controller 140 via the communication controller 122 and the communication network (S).
12).

When the multipoint connection control device 140 receives the user identification information data thus transferred from each terminal (S13), each item data contained therein is taken out (S14) and managed by the telephone directory application 126. It is stored in a database having substantially the same structure as the telephone directory database (S15).

FIG. 11 shows a detailed flowchart of S15 of FIG. In the multipoint connection control device 140, first,
Check whether the phonebook application has been started (S
21) If it is not activated, activate the telephone directory application (S22).

Next, the telephone directory application of the multipoint connection device checks whether or not the same user (or terminal) has already been registered (S23). For example, a telephone number (or network address) is used.

If there is no registration (S23), the user of the multipoint connection control device 140 is prompted to newly register the received user identification information on the screen as shown in FIG. 12 (S2).
4). The registration button is operated to perform new registration, and the cancel button is operated to terminate without executing the registration process.

When the registration has already been made (S23), a dialog as shown in FIG. 13 is displayed together with the received data contents to prompt the user of the multipoint connection control device 140 to update (S25). The registration content is updated with the received content by operating the OK button, and the registration processing is ended without executing the registration processing by operating the cancel button.

In this way, the identification information of the users who participate in the video conference is collected in (the terminal device or the computer connected to) the multipoint connection control device 140. The multipoint control device 140 transfers the identification information of the video conference participants to the request source in response to the request from each participant of the video conference. FIG. 14 shows the flowchart.

The multipoint control device 140 receives a registration data transmission request from any of the sites (S3).
1), prepare for transfer to the site, and send transfer preparation completion data after preparation is completed (S32). On the contrary,
The site of the registration data transmission request source outputs the last update date of the internally stored telephone directory registration data to the multipoint connection control device 140 as transfer preparation control data (S3).
3).

The multipoint connection control device 140 compares the final update date of the received transfer preparation control data with the final update date of the registration data stored in the multipoint connection control device 140 (S34).

If the last update date at the site of the registration data transmission request source is before the last update date of the registration data stored in the multipoint control unit 140 (S34),
The multipoint connection control device 140 outputs the registration data output preparation data to the site of the registration data transmission request source, and the site of the registration data transmission request source prepares for reception according to the registration data output preparation data, and then the registration data. The reception preparation completion data is transmitted to the multipoint control unit 140 (S37).
The multipoint control device 140 sends the registration data to the sending request source site in accordance with the registration data reception preparation completion data from the sending request source site (S37).

When the last update date at the site of the registration data transmission request source is the same as or later than the last update date of the registration data stored in the multipoint connection control device 140 (S34), at that site, Since there is no need to update the registration data, the multipoint control unit 140 outputs the transfer refusal data to the request source site (S38). In reality, the last update date at the site of the registration data transmission request source may not be later than the last update date of the registration data stored in the multipoint control unit 140, but such a branch is made in the program. Becomes

In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 6 to 14, the multipoint connection control device 140 has been described as the center for connecting the terminals in a star-like manner, but the present invention is not limited to the star connection. Not limited. It may be a ring-shaped or chain-shaped network. It is obvious that the function of accumulating the user identification information of the multipoint connection control device 140 of the above embodiment can be realized on the file server or on any terminal device. The identification information of the conference participants may be concentrated on any terminal device of the video conference, for example, a terminal device acting as a chairman.

In the embodiments shown in FIGS. 6 to 14, the identification information of each site is temporarily collected in the multipoint connection control device 140, but by making a slight change as described below, the two parties can communicate with each other. The identification information can be automatically registered in the other party's telephone directory.

FIG. 15 is a basic flowchart of the modification. When the telephone directory application 126 is started after the communication between the own site and the partner site is established and the data transfer is enabled, the telephone directory application 126 first displays the identification information of the user of the own site as shown in FIG. Display as shown in. The data items include registered name, address, company name, telephone number (or network address), remarks, and image data such as a facial photograph.

When the user presses the transfer button,
If you instruct to transfer the identification information of your site to the other party,
Registration data management means 1 of the telephone directory application 126
30 reads the above-mentioned identification information of its own site and transfers it to the data processing means 128, and the data processing means 128 puts the identification information of its own site into a transfer format as shown in FIG. 17 (S41), and transfers this transfer data. It is supplied to the system controller 132. The system control device 132 transfers this transfer data to the communication partner via the communication control device 122 and the communication network (S42).

The terminal of the communication partner receives the transferred user identification information data (S43), and the data processing means 12
8 retrieves each item data included in the received data (S
44), the data is converted into the internal format of the telephone directory application 126 and stored in the telephone directory database (S45).

The transfer of such identification information is executed mutually, and the mutual identification information is registered in the telephone directory application of the other party.

FIG. 18 shows a detailed flowchart of S45 of FIG. In the terminal which has received the identification information from the communication partner, first, it is checked whether or not the telephone directory application has been activated (S51).
The telephone book application is activated (S52).

It is checked whether or not the communication partner has already been registered (S53). For example, a telephone number (or network address) is used.

If there is no registration (S53), a new registration screen as shown in FIG. 19 prompts the user to newly register the received user identification information (S54). The registration button is operated to perform new registration, and the cancel button is operated to terminate without executing the registration process.

When the registration has already been made (S53), a dialog as shown in FIG. 20 is displayed together with the received data content, and the user is urged whether or not the update is possible (S55). The registration content is updated with the received content by operating the OK button, and the registration processing is ended without executing the registration processing by operating the cancel button.

In this way, the identification information of the communication partners can be easily added to each other without keyboard operation.

[0057]

As can be easily understood from the above description, according to the present invention, the person who sent the message most recently is displayed first in the list display of the telephone directory, so that the reply Call processing becomes easier.

Further, even when a large number of conference participants are scheduled, the identification information of each conference participant is collected in one place and transferred to each site upon request, so that the identification information of the participants is collected at each terminal. You will be able to know it easily. Furthermore, 2
Between the sites, exchange the mutual identification information,
Phone book data can be easily automatically recorded or updated.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an operation flowchart showing an operation of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a video conference system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a registration list display screen.

FIG. 4 is a registration list display screen.

FIG. 5 is a format of registration data.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a star-connected video conference system.

FIG. 7 is a schematic configuration block diagram of a terminal device having a function of transferring identification information to a multipoint control device or a communication partner.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an operation of transferring the identification information to the multipoint control device.

FIG. 9 is an example of a confirmation screen before transfer.

FIG. 10 is a format of transfer data.

FIG. 11 is a detailed flowchart of S15 of FIG.

FIG. 12 is an example of a new registration screen.

FIG. 13 is a confirmation dialog for registration update.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a process of reading and registering identification information accumulated in the multipoint control device 140.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of an operation of transferring identification information to a communication partner site.

FIG. 16 is an example of a confirmation screen before transfer.

FIG. 17 is a format of transfer data.

FIG. 18 is a detailed flowchart of S45 of FIG.

FIG. 19 is an example of a new registration screen.

FIG. 20 is a confirmation dialog for registration update.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10: Video camera 12: Display monitor 14: Video processing device 16: Microphone 18: Speaker 20: Voice processing device 22: Communication control device 24: Message processing device 26: Phonebook application software 28: Judgment means 30 : List updating means 32: List displaying means 34: System control device 110: Video camera 112: Display monitor 114: Video processing device 116: Microphone 118: Speaker 120: Voice processing device 122: Communication control device 126: Phonebook Application software 128: Data processing means 130: Registered data management means 132: System control device 140: Multipoint connection control device

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A terminal device for a video conference system, comprising: a judging means for judging whether a sender of a received message is already registered in predetermined list registration data; and a display order of the list registration data. And a list display means for displaying a list of the name list registration data, and when the received message is already registered in the name list registration data, the display order changing means, The registration data of the sender of the received message is placed at a position corresponding to the top position of the list display data in the list of registered data, and other registration data positioned higher than the sender of the received message is sequentially moved down. Characteristic video conference terminal device. 2. The video conference terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the received message is received during absence. 3. A method for controlling the display of the name list registration data in a communication conference terminal device having the name list registration data, wherein whether the sender of the received message is already registered in the name list registration data. If it is determined by the determination step that the sender of the received message is already registered in the name list registration data, the registration data of the sender of the received message is changed to the name list registration data. Among them, the control method is characterized by comprising a display order changing step of arranging the registration data at a position corresponding to the head position at the time of displaying the list and sequentially rolling down other registered data positioned higher than the sender of the received message. 4. The control method according to claim 3, wherein the received message is received during absence. 5. The control method according to claim 3, further comprising a list display step of displaying a list of the name list registration data according to a predetermined operation. 6. A video conference system for conducting a video conference between communication terminal devices installed at a plurality of points, wherein each communication terminal device transfers its own identification information to an identification information management device and participates in the video conference. A video conference system in which each communication terminal device reading the identification information of another communication terminal device from the identification information management device. 7. The video conference system according to claim 6, wherein the identification information management device is a multipoint connection control device. 8. The identification information includes at least one of image data showing a face photograph of a user of each communication terminal device and graphic data uniquely showing each communication terminal.
The video conference system described in. 9. Further, the update date of the identification information of another site which is already held by the communication terminal device which attempts to read the identification information of the other site from the identification information management device, and is stored in the identification information management device. When the update date comparison means for comparing the update date of the identification information and the update date of the identification information interpolated by the identification information management device are newer, the identification information of another site is also read from the identification information management device. 7. A transfer / update unit that transfers the identification information stored in the identification information management device to the intended communication terminal device and updates the identification information in the communication terminal device.
7. The video conference system according to 7 or 8. 10. A video conferencing system for connecting communication terminal devices at a plurality of points through communication lines, wherein identification information including information necessary for establishing a communication path between the communication terminals is mutually transmitted between the communication terminals. A video conferencing system comprising means for transferring to a video conference system. 11. Each communication terminal device comprises a phonebook application for managing other party identification information including at least the telephone number or network address of the other party of communication, and the telephone book application is the above-mentioned identification information transferred from the other party. 11. The video conference system according to claim 10, wherein is newly registered in the case of a new partner, and if the partner is already registered, the user is confirmed whether or not the update is possible to update. 12. The video conference system according to claim 10, wherein the identification information includes at least one of image data of a facial photograph of a user and graphic data uniquely indicating each communication terminal device.