KR20000037652A - Method for controlling camera using sound source tracking in video conference system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for controlling camera using sound source tracking in a video conference system is provided to track sound source to point the camera to the source in the video conference system. CONSTITUTION: A method for controlling camera using sound source tracking in a video conference system includes four steps. at the first step(S100), a plurality of sound collector located in different positions collect voices of the participants. At the second step(S110), 3 positions for best sound quality are selected. At the(S120), the sound source is tracked using the voices received from the 3 positions. At the(S130), camera is positioned to the 3 sound source. The first step(S100) further uses microphones for tracking.

Description

A camera controlling method by voice tracking in a video conferencing system

The present invention relates to a videoconferencing system, and more particularly, a videoconferencing system, which collects the voices of the conferees using a plurality of super-directional microphones provided at a specific location, tracks the sound source, and automatically moves the camera in the direction in which the sound source is generated. It relates to a camera control method by sound source tracking in a system of.

In general, video conferencing refers to a conference method that has an effect such as meeting at the same time and place using multimedia data such as video, audio, text, graphics, and images without being restricted by time and place.

Such a video conferencing system includes Korean Patent Publication No. 96-00143939. The overall configuration diagram of the video conferencing system thereby is shown in FIG.

That is, the video conferencing system constructs a separate optical communication network 12 for the video conferencing, and the terminal (TV conferencing terminal, TV conference room, international conference room, video conference room) of the video conferencing system is a small camera and a PC. It consists of a 2-way terminal, a speaker, etc., and a codec is installed in the center to enable remote meetings.

In the drawing, the video center, the TV conference terminal, and the TV conference room are connected by optical fiber (O / F), and the communication network 12 and each center 11, 13, and 14 are connected by an O / R (Office Repeater).

2 is a detailed configuration diagram of a video conference system, and the video conference system includes a main controller and a terminal unit.

The main controller is the main system of the video conferencing system and controls the entire system. It consists of A / V switch, screen splitter and codec. The A / V switch controls all A / V sources in the broadcasting center. It also interfaces with other systems.

The main controller comprises an A / V switch, a screen splitter, a codec, a video main PC, a host computer, a video conferencing terminal PC, an audio mixer, a VDA, an ADA, a CRT terminal, a printer, an optical transmission device, and the like. It is configured to include.

In addition, the A / V switch automatically switches the input and output of video and audio at the request of the videoconferencing terminal, and its capacity is configured to correspond to the scalability for constructing the videoconferencing system in the IBS building.

The screen splitting apparatus provides a full screen and a 4-split screen at the request of a video conference terminal, so that a video conference can be performed realistically by conducting a conference while simultaneously viewing a screen of the self and the counterpart. The audio mixer synthesizes and transmits a microphone signal input from the terminal and is required for a multi-party conference.

A codec converts a video signal and an audio signal to a T1 line by using a moving picture compression technique, and demodulates a video signal and an audio signal transmitted through the T1 line to enable a video conference with a remote site.

The video main PC is a device that plays a pivotal role in a video conferencing system, and mainly controls an A / V switch, a screen splitter, a codec, and the like. The host computer integrates and manages the entire system to control various control PCs, manage the status of the video conference terminal, and manage various alarms and reports. The video conferencing terminal PC mainly manages the video conferencing terminal, and transmits the request data of the video conferencing terminal to the host computer.

The optical transmission device OTRX-10 converts baseband video and audio signals into optical signals and converts RS-232 control signals into optical signals.

The VDA amplifies and distributes the video signal, distributes one input signal to six outputs, and the ADA amplifies and distributes the audio signal, and distributes one input signal to six outputs.

The CRT terminal is used for data input and monitoring of various terminals of the host computer, and the printer prints information on the status of various terminals and uses them on-line.

In addition, the TV conference terminal performs video conference using a PC as a part of directly operating a TV conference. The camera and speaker are mounted and operated on a PC monitor, and all operations are operated by a mouse instead of a separate keyboard. In addition, the TV conference terminal can receive services in conjunction with CATV system, VRS (Video Response System), CCTV system.

As shown in FIG. 3, the terminal unit includes a 2-way terminal, a PC, an image capture board, a camera and an auxiliary device, a microphone, a speaker, an optical transmission device, a console, and the like. .

The 2-way terminal performs data communication with the video center, controls the power on / off of the terminal camera, outputs melody when the other party calls, and downloads the VRS guided list.

The PC communicates with the 2-way terminal, selects all the menus displayed on the window using the mouse, and handles all video conference related functions (such as conference management and CATV VRS access).

The video capture board is a video adapter that can be used with IBM compatible models, and can process video signals and audio signals, input 30 frames / sec video screen, and store video images.

The camera and accessories are CCD color cameras that can provide clear picture quality and have an AUTO IRIS function. In addition, a response / cancel key is mounted on the camera and installed on top of the monitor to answer the call. The microphone is used as a voice input device, and the speaker is used as a voice output device.

The optical transmission device OTRX converts a baseband A / V signal into an optical signal and converts an RS-232C control signal into an optical signal. The console is equipped with a PC, a 2-way terminal, and is manufactured in a roll-about type.

In the video conferencing system, a video conference is performed by the caller, when the caller turns on the PC, brings up the video conference screen by key input using a keyboard, selects the other party's icon to be video conference, A wait message appears with a picture. If there is a response from the other party, the other party's appearance is displayed on the screen and video conferencing can be performed.

If there is no response from the other party, a message is displayed on the screen and asks whether or not to continue the video conference.

During video conference, you can adjust voice volume, camera, screen color, etc. or use editor. In particular, if you want to see the conference report data using the editor, if you specify the editor of the screen using the mouse, the screen is divided into two, the video of the counterpart appears on the left side and the report data editor appears on the right side, If you specify a file with the mouse, the file will appear on the screen.

If you want to send the report data to the other party during the video conference, if you specify the data transmission column with the mouse while the editor is displayed, a small window and a file list appear in it, and the file to be transmitted in the list is displayed. If is set to, the file transfer message is displayed on the screen when the file is transferred. When the transmission is completed, a transmission completion message appears and the transmission ends. When the conference is over, the termination data is transmitted to the host, and the video conference is terminated.

On the other hand, when a video conference request is received by the caller, a melody that notifies the called party of the video conference rings. If you want to respond to the video conference, press the response key on the PC monitor to stop the melody. If the video conference is not called, pressing the Cancel key on the PC monitor stops the melody and ends the video conference.

In response to the video conference call, the state of the called PC power source is checked, and if it is in the off state, the PC, camera, speaker, etc. of the terminal device are turned on and the executable file for executing the video conference is automatically executed. If you are using a PC, finish the task and enter the command to run the video conference. This will bring up the MS Windows screen on your PC, and after a while you will be able to conduct video conferencing.

On the other hand, if you want to conduct multi-party video conferencing, first turn on the PC and press the video conferencing command using the keyboard, MS Windows is performed on the screen, the video conferencing screen immediately appears, and also his appearance appears on the screen.

If you designate the conference icon on the screen with the mouse, a small window will open again and the conference attendee list will appear in the window. If you specify a number of participants in the video conference using the mouse, a waiting message appears for a while, and the video conference participant can be displayed on the screen.

If you want to add a third party during the two-party meeting, select the icon of the person you want to join with the mouse on the screen, and after the waiting message appears for a while, if there is a response from the other party, the screen will be divided into four parts and the participant will appear. You can conduct video conference. In addition, the same procedure is repeated when adding a fourth party in a three-party conference.

In such a video conferencing system, a camera for photographing a meeting person is located at the front center of the meeting room to photograph the meeting person. Therefore, in the case of multi-party meetings, there was an inconvenience of moving the camera in the direction of voice when the dialog was changed.

In order to improve this problem, a triangular position tracking method is provided in which microphones are collected at three points in a video conference space, and the positions of sound sources (talkers) are obtained by obtaining the time difference between the detected moments of each microphone. Use to move the camera automatically in the direction of sound.

However, in the triangular position tracking method, since voice is transmitted at about 340m per second in a narrow space, there are many problems in that the resolution of the sound source fails due to a large resolution.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, by using a plurality of super-directional microphones provided in a specific position to collect the voices of the meeting people, to track the sound source to automatically rotate the camera in the direction in which the sound source is generated It is an object of the present invention to provide a camera control method by sound source tracking in a moving video conference system.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a general video conferencing system

2 is a detailed configuration diagram of a video conference system

3 is a configuration diagram of a terminal of FIG.

4 is a configuration diagram of a video conferencing camera and a camera controller adopted in the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating arrangement of components constituting the voice collector of FIG. 4. FIG.

6 is a flowchart illustrating a camera control process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Explanation of symbols on the main parts of the drawings

100: camera 200: camera control unit

210; Microprocessor 211: ROM

220: voice collector 230: reception sensitivity measurement unit

240: motor drive unit 250: motor

In order to achieve the above object, a camera control method using sound source tracking according to the present invention is a process of collecting a voice of a conference person using a plurality of super-directional microphones, and selecting three of the collected voices with good reception sensitivity. And tracking the sound source using the magnitudes of the signals received from the selected three superdirectional microphones, and moving the camera in the direction of the tracked sound source.

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

4 is a block diagram illustrating a video camera portion having a tracking function according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 4, the camera 100 used for video conferencing according to the present invention to track a talker includes a microprocessor 210, a voice collector 220, a reception sensitivity measurer 230, and a motor driver 240. The movement is controlled by the camera controller 200 formed of the motor 250.

The voice collector 220 is composed of a plurality of super-directional microphones, the super-directional microphone is located in a specific direction of the meeting space. For example, it can be installed in five places of the left, right, top, bottom, front of the meeting space. Unlike a general microphone, a super directional microphone has the greatest reception sensitivity of a voice sensed directly in front of it.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, when the position of the sound source is as shown in the drawing, the microphone located at the upper (2) and the left (3) has almost no voice detected, and the front (1) and the right ( 4) Voice is detected from the microphone located below (5).

The voice collector 220 outputs the collected voice to the reception sensitivity measurement unit 230, measures the sensitivity of the voice received from the plurality of microphones of the reception sensitivity measurement unit 230, and outputs the sensitivity to the microprocessor 210. .

The microprocessor operates according to the software stored in the internal ROM 211 based on the voice sensitivity (the size of the received voice signal) input from the reception sensitivity measuring unit 230 to determine the moving direction of the camera 100. The control signal necessary for the movement of the 100 is output to the motor driver 240.

The motor driver 240 drives the motor 250 in response to a control signal of the microprocessor 210. The motor 250 is driven by the motor driver 240 to directly move the camera 100.

Next, the above-described configuration unit will be described in detail with reference to a flowchart of FIG. 6 attached to a camera control process by sound source tracking according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

The first time the videoconference starts, the camera is in front of the conference.

Then, when the conversation is changed while the video conference is in progress, the voice is collected using a plurality of superdirectional microphones (for example, five) provided in the voice collector 220 (S100).

The voice signal collected by the voice collector 220 is sent to the reception sensitivity measurement unit 230, and the reception sensitivity measurement unit 230 measures the reception sensitivity and outputs the received sensitivity to the microprocessor 210. Then, the microprocessor 210 selects three voices having good reception sensitivity among the voices collected from the plurality of super-directional microphones according to the software stored in the ROM 211 based on this (S110).

Subsequently, the position of the sound source is tracked using the magnitudes of the three selected voice signals (S120). When the position of the sound source is determined, a control signal is output to the motor driver 240 to move the camera 100 in the direction.

The motor driver 240 drives the motor 250 based on the control signal of the microprocessor 210 so that the camera 100 automatically moves in the direction in which the dialog can be photographed without manual manipulation. Steps S100 to S130 are repeatedly performed until the video conference is completed to control the camera 100 to face the new talker whenever the talker changes.

As described above, the present invention collects the voices of the conferees using a plurality of super-directional microphones provided at a specific location, and selects three points of voices having good reception sensitivity among the collected voices to accurately select a sound source (conversator). Tracking and auto-moving the camera reduces camera manipulation during the meeting, freeing the attendee to focus on the meeting.

While the invention has been shown and described with respect to particular embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims. Anyone can see it easily.

Claims (2)

Collecting voices of a conference person using a plurality of voice collecting means installed at different locations, selecting voices of three points having good reception sensitivity among the collected voices, and voice signals received at the selected three points And controlling the sound source using the size of the sound source and moving the camera in the direction of the tracked sound source. The method of claim 1, The process of collecting the voice is a camera control method by the sound source tracking in a video conferencing system, characterized in that performed using a super-directional microphone installed on the left, right, top, bottom, front of the conference.