KR100193684B1 - Method and apparatus for video and audio transmission and multi-party remote communication network in video conferencing or multimedia network - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a video conference system or a multimedia network using a computer. The present invention relates to a method of constructing a multi-party call network and a video communication system. The subscribers in the group can connect the call network to receive the video and audio signals of specific subscribers through the protocol, and the video and audio transmission and the remote telephony can be controlled by communication. It relates to a network configuration method and apparatus therefor.

Provides a method and apparatus for transmitting video and audio and a multi-party remote call network in a videoconferencing or multimedia network capable of real-time transmission of video and audio with low-cost system configuration while meeting videoconferencing needs, and an analog-to-digital converter. It is possible to transmit video and audio in a videoconferencing or multimedia network that can be received in real time as the transmission speed can be achieved in real time because it transmits the analog video without using the same, and a method for constructing a multi-party remote call network The present invention provides a device, and a large-capacity memory and a central processing unit having high-speed processing capability can be eliminated. To each terminal subscribed to In order to provide a method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving video and audio in a videoconferencing or multimedia network that can be configured and switched to a specific other terminal and a remote call network by remote control, a plurality of subscriber personal A computer is used as a terminal, and is composed of main and external means for receiving video and audio transmitting and receiving means independent of the existing personal computer, and for transmitting and receiving between the specific terminals by means of a call network configuration request signal on the terminal side. The video and audio signals are provided as analog signals to terminals wishing to be connected via main control means, and the video and audio signals are scanned on the screen of the personal computer, and the multi-way remote call network is realized. do.

Description

Method and apparatus for the construction of multi-way remote communication network and transmission of video and audio in video conferencing or multimedia network

The present invention relates to a video conferencing system or a multimedia network using a computer. The present invention relates to a video and audio transmission method and a method for constructing a subscriber multi-party communication network. The subscribers in the group connect the communication network to receive the video and audio signals of specific subscribers through the protocol, and the video and audio transmission and the multi-way remote call can be controlled remotely by communication. It relates to a network configuration method and apparatus therefor.

In recent years, with the development of element manufacturing technology and integration circuit technology, computers have made rapid progress. Among them, personal computers, which, in combination with communication technology, enable the exchange of information by sending and receiving large amounts of information or by constructing various networks.

Computers have reached the stage of realizing video conferencing by transmitting video and audio as well as processing various information.

Conventional video conferencing systems as described above are limited to several video conferencing systems, which vary slightly depending on a communication method, by converting an analog video signal into a digital signal and transmitting the digital signal.

That is, it is used in various networks such as using an on-line method by configuring each terminal as a terminal using a large computer, or using a distributed processing method called a server-client.

Of course, even in the prior art, some of the problems caused by spatially spaced people having to gather in one place to proceed with the meeting can be solved by using a video conferencing system. According to this, an analog video signal is converted into a digital signal to transmit this digital signal.

The digital signal amount corresponding to one frame of the video signal is a very large amount of data, which is about 400 sheets per minute.

However, it is known that a minimum transmission amount of about 1200 images per minute is required to transmit the image without flickering. Therefore, there is a technical limitation that the unnaturalness of the image can be inevitably caused. May only be possible if you use a fairly expensive system.

Of course, in the low-performance (less than 486 class) personal computer class, image transmission can only lead to deterioration of image quality.

On the other hand, there has been an attempt to establish a video conference by transmitting and receiving video and audio in both directions using a cable broadcasting network.

It is proposed as a domestic patent application No. 90-20658. Looking at this technology configuration, the modulation unit for modulating and outputting the camera and the image as an RF signal to the converter which is a terminal equipment for receiving cable broadcasting, that is, CATV broadcasting.

According to the above technical configuration, several groups are limited in forming a communication network by selecting the same channel of a wired reception tuner and maintaining interconnection between terminals wishing to access an image using a CATV broadcasting network. It is impossible to identify whether it is possible and there are many problems to use.

Accordingly, the present invention provides a video telephony or a multimedia telephony communication method and a method for constructing a multi-party remote call network in a video conferencing or multimedia network capable of real-time transmission of video and audio even in a low-cost system configuration while meeting the video conferencing requirements as described above. Has the purpose of providing a device.

Since the present invention transmits analog video without using an analog-to-digital converter, the transmission speed can be achieved in real time, and video and audio transmission and multilateral communication in a video conferencing or multimedia network can be received as it is. It provides a method and apparatus for configuring a remote call network.

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for the transmission of video and audio and the construction of a multi-party remote call network in a video conferencing or multimedia network having high economical efficiency, since a central processing unit having a large memory and a high-speed processing capability can be excluded. .

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving video and audio in a video conferencing or multimedia network, which are remotely controlled from each of the subscribed terminals to enable the configuration and switching of a specific telephony network with a specific other terminal. to provide.

The present invention is a main control means having a plurality of subscriber personal computers as a terminal, accommodating video and audio transmission and reception means independent of the existing personal computer, and the transmission and reception means, and realizing a connection between specific terminals by the call network configuration request signal on the terminal side. By consisting of

The video and audio signals transmitted from the terminal side are provided as analog signals to the terminal to be connected via main control means. The transmission of video and audio scanning the analog signals on the screen of a personal computer and the construction of a multi-party remote communication network To be realized.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a control concept of the present invention.

2 is a main controller configuration diagram as an embodiment of the apparatus configuration according to the present invention.

3 is a block diagram of a terminal device as an embodiment of the device configuration according to the present invention.

4 is a flowchart showing the control execution of the main controller.

5 is a flowchart showing control execution of a terminal apparatus.

Hereinafter, the technical idea of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The present invention provides a method for transmitting video and audio between a main control means constituting a network and terminal subscribers of a unit group to which a plurality of terminals are subscribed.

The main control means detects an online connection state among subscribers;

Detecting the online connected subscriber in a database;

Transmitting the coded database to a connected terminal subscriber;

Detecting a terminal access command received from the terminal;

The step of connecting the call network between the terminals by the terminal access command and the analog transmission path of the video and audio information between the connected terminals are made.

On the other hand, the step of detecting when the state change of the terminal in the offline or online state of the plurality of terminals is input;

Updating the terminal database including the terminal from which the state change is detected;

Retransmitting the updated database for the terminal is made to provide the information of the terminal that can be connected among the plurality of terminals to each terminal subscriber.

On the other hand, a terminal constituting a call network by the main control means receives a terminal database;

Displaying the received terminal database and displaying other accessible terminals;

Transmitting a terminal access command to the main control means when an access command of another terminal is detected according to a remote control input;

And changing the display of the other accessible terminal when the updated terminal database is received from the main control means.

According to the present invention as described above form a unit group with a plurality of terminals connected to the main control means, each terminal is a dedicated communication network including analog transmission line and data communication (KS-422) line of video and audio main control means You are subscribed to

On the other hand, when a subscribed terminal wants to access specific terminals, it is possible to confirm whether the terminal is currently online by checking the display of the accessible terminal database of each terminal.

Thus, when a connection command of another terminal is inputted to the own system as a remote controller, the connection command is transmitted to the main control means through communication, and the main control means connects the video signal and the audio information between the terminal subscribers to establish the analog signal between the terminals. The transmission path is connected.

Of course, the connection between the terminals can be multiplexed in 1: 1 and 1: group units (N group can be formed) or 1: N-1.

In addition, each terminal can request the switching of the call network connection between the other terminal at any time according to their needs, it is possible to implement a system that is different from the system for receiving one-way video and audio signals from a specific terminal.

As a result, the digital signal is greatly improved in image quality and signal processing time because the processing time and the problem caused by the huge transmission data are processed as analog signals according to the method of configuring the remote communication network of the present invention. This can be implemented as a practical video conferencing system.

Looking at the device configuration as an embodiment made by the method of the present invention in more detail as follows.

In the apparatus for transmitting video and audio between the main control unit device constituting the network and the terminal device of the unit group to which a plurality of terminals are joined

The main controller 100 includes an input unit 110 for receiving video, audio signals, and control signals from a plurality of terminal devices U1-Un,

A selection controller including a decoder 121 for inputting a control signal input through a communication unit SCC converting the control signal into a parallel signal to a processing unit MCU and decoding a terminal selection signal of the processing unit MPU; 120),

A status display unit 130 for displaying the terminal device 200 which is in an online state through the selection control unit 120;

An image output controller 140 for controlling an image signal output of the terminal device 200 input through the input unit 110;

A voice output controller 150 for controlling a voice signal output of the terminal device 200 input through the input unit 110;

A signal amplifier 160 for amplifying the output signal of the video and audio output controller 150;

An output unit 170 for outputting the amplified signal to each terminal device 200,

The output of the decoder 21 of the processing unit (MPU) that controls the opening and closing of the video and audio output controllers 40 and 50 is input to the output controllers 40 and 50 as an enable signal.

In addition, the terminal device 200 is a processing device through the receiving unit 212, the IR sensor 211 for receiving the remote control signal 210 to process the sensor signal to enable data communication of the control signal with the main control device 100. (MPU) to enter,

A camera 220 for capturing an image of the terminal device, an RGB converter 221 for converting the photographed signal, a microphone 222 for converting audio, and a controller 23 for controlling the output of video and audio signals. Connecting to the input unit 110 of the main control unit through a signal amplifier 240 for amplifying and outputting video and audio signals;

A signal amplifier 280 for receiving and amplifying video and audio signals from the output unit 170 of the main controller, an output controller 270 for controlling the output of the received signals, and outputting the received video and audio signals. The monitor 250 and the speaker 260 are connected to each other, and the processing unit (MPU) according to the control request input to the IR sensor 211 enables the signal to open and control the signal output of the output controllers 230 and 270. And a communication unit 290 for transmitting and receiving a control signal with the main controller 100 and a status display unit 213 for displaying online information of another terminal received from the main controller 100.

As described above, the present invention has the following effects.

First, the operation according to the device configuration as an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

The present invention is connected to the main control unit 100 through a plurality of terminal apparatuses 200 and a network that accepts the terminals U1-Un as transmission lines.

The terminals U1-Un have a camera 220 for capturing an image, a microphone 222 for voice conversion, a monitor 250 for reproducing a received image, and a speaker 260 for reproducing a voice.

The monitor 250 and the speaker 260 are combined as part of a personal computer of the terminal.

Subsequently, a particular terminal is connected to another terminal to look at the exaggeration of transmitting and receiving video and audio signals of analog signals. Reference is made to FIGS. 2 to 5.

The plurality of terminals U1 -Un connected to the main controller 100 may be interconnected while the user of the terminal is online to the main controller 100 through the terminal 200.

Therefore, the processing unit (MPU) of the main control unit 100 initializes the system (step 101) and checks the online state of each terminal U1-Un connected to the input unit 110. (Step 102)

According to the online connection state, information of each terminal is created in a database (step 103), and the online information (terminal database) of the terminal is transmitted to each terminal connected online by RS 422 communication. (Step 104)

When the data is present in the communication unit buffer of the main controller 100 through the input unit 110 (step 105), and the data is present, the processing unit (MPU) checks the ID of the terminal (step 106) to determine the terminal connection command (step 106). Step 107) Enables a signal passing through the decoder 121 and the video and audio output controllers 140 and 150 through the decoder 121 to connect the communication network between the terminals, and configures the communication network in which the video and audio information are transferred between the terminals. This will be realized.

Therefore, the video and audio signals of one terminal can be reproduced by the monitor 250 and the speaker 260 of the other terminal.

For example, a mutual video call network may be configured between the terminal u1 and the terminal U10, or a plurality of other terminals Un-1 may simultaneously view the video and audio signals of the terminal U1, or a group within the group. The call network may be configured in units.

When the main controller 120 does not have a terminal connection command to the communication unit, the main controller 120 detects a change in the online state of the terminal (online or offline of the terminal) (step 110) and updates the corresponding database for the terminal (step 111) and transmits it to each terminal. Control is performed in step 104 above.

The online configuration of each of these terminals is displayed as an LED on the status display unit 130.

According to the control execution of the main controller 100 described above, the terminals U1-Un are controlled as follows.

Each terminal device 200 is hardware-separated from a personal computer (not shown) on the terminal side, and when the terminal device system initialization 201 is performed, database information of other terminals accessible from the main controller device 100 through the communication unit 290. (Step 202), this database information is displayed on the status display unit 213 as an LED. Of course, this display may be displayed as information on the monitor by software processing.

Based on the status display unit 213, it is possible to check whether the terminal to be connected is online.

On the other hand, the processing unit (MPU) of the terminal device 200 detects the remote controller input (step 204) and transmits the terminal connection command to the main controller when it is a terminal connection command (step 205) (step 206). Command data is transmitted through The telephone network configuration is thus realized as described above.

In addition, the microphone control and the speaker control for adjusting the call sensitivity are controlled by the remote controller 210 based on the processing unit (MPU) (steps 209-212).

According to the present invention as described in detail above, the communication data is extremely small by only communicating data according to the communication network configuration, so the time required for communication is extremely small. Since the signal is transmitted in real time as it is, the equipment and time according to the signal conversion pressure of the video is drastically reduced, and the invention has an excellent effect that the image can be provided with high quality with perfect transmission over the phone.

Claims (4)

A method of transmitting video and audio between a main control means constituting a network and a terminal subscriber of a unit group to which a plurality of terminals are subscribed, the main control means detecting an online connection state among subscribers and a database of the online connected subscribers. Coding, transmitting the coded database to a connected terminal subscriber, detecting a terminal access command received from the terminal, and connecting a call network between the terminals by the terminal access command. And configuring an analog transmission path of video and audio information between the connected terminals, detecting when a state change of a terminal in an offline or online state is input to the plurality of terminals; Updating the terminal database including the detected terminal; A plurality of terminals of the connection according to the information of a terminal in each terminal videoconferencing or multimedia network which comprises to provide subscribers with video and transmitting the multipoint remote call network configuration method of the speech by the step of retransmitting the database for Placed terminal. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal constituting the call network by the main control means receives the terminal database, displays the received terminal database, and displays another terminal to which the terminal can be connected; Transmitting a terminal access command to the main control means when a terminal access command is detected, and changing the display of the other accessible terminal when an updated terminal database is received from the main control means. A video and audio transmission and a multi-way telephony network in a video conference or multimedia network. In the apparatus for transmitting video and audio between a main control unit constituting a network and a terminal device of a unit group to which a plurality of terminals are subscribed, the main control unit 100 is a video and audio signal from a plurality of terminal devices (U1-Un) The control signal is inputted to the processing unit (MPU) through an input unit (110) for receiving a control signal and a communication unit (SCC) for converting the control signal into a parallel signal, and a terminal selection signal of the processing unit (MPU) is input. A selection controller 120 including a decoder 121 for decoding, a status display unit 130 for displaying a terminal device 200 which is in an online state through the selection controller 120, and the input unit 110. An image output controller 140 for controlling the output of the input video signal of the terminal device 200, an audio output controller 150 for controlling the output of the audio signal of the terminal device 200 input through the input unit 110; , The image and The signal amplification unit 160 for amplifying the output elongation of the sexual output control unit 150 and the output unit 170 for outputting the amplified signal to each terminal device 200, wherein the video and audio output control unit ( In the video conferencing or multimedia network, the output of the decoder 21 of the processing unit (MPU) for controlling the opening and closing of 40, 50 is input to the output control unit 40, 50 as an enable signal. Multi-way remote communication network device for voice transmission. The receiver 212 of claim 3, wherein the terminal device 200 receives an IR sensor 211 that receives a signal from the remote controller 210 so as to enable data communication of a control signal with the main controller 100. A camera 220 for capturing an image of the terminal device, an R, G, and B converter 221 for converting the photographing signal, and a microphone 222 for converting voice. And the control unit 230 for controlling the output of the video and audio signals, and the signal amplifier 240 for amplifying and outputting the video and audio signals to the input unit 110 of the main controller, and the output of the main controller. A signal amplifier 280 for receiving and amplifying video and audio signals from the unit 170, an output controller 270 for controlling the output of the received signals, and a monitor 250 for reproducing and outputting the received video and audio signals. ) To connect the speaker 260, the IR sensor ( According to a control request inputted to 211, the control unit (MPU) is configured to provide an enable signal to open and control the signal output of the output controllers 230 and 270, and a communication unit 290 which transmits and receives a control signal with the main controller 100. And a status display unit (213) for displaying online information of another terminal received from the main control unit (100).