JP2002124954A - Bidirectional communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a bidirectional communication system which can limit the number of joining slaves in a free-talking mode in a conference facility, etc., and, even if the operation of a communication control means is discontinued, can function continuously without interruption. SOLUTION: This bidirectional communication system has a slave registration limit for the number of slaves capable of joining in a communication mode (free-talking mode) between the slaves 20 and a waiting registration limit for the slaves not registered in the slave registration limit, in the order of the receipt of the request of joining the communication. If a vacancy is produced in the slave registration limit, the waiting slave in the waiting registration limit is registered in the slave registration limit in the order of the receipt of the request to make the slave join the communication between the slaves. Further, a communication control means (personal computer) 31 is connected to a transmission/reception line 40 via a communication monitor/control unit 50. If the operation of the communication control means 31 is discontinued, the communication monitor/control unit 50 functions temporarily as the communication control.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a two-way communication system constructed from one master unit and a plurality of slave units and applied to, for example, a conference facility. The present invention relates to a two-way communication system which has a communication mode and can be continuously operated even when a communication control unit becomes inoperable (control).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In the case of an international conference hall as an example, a microphone unit is provided in each of a chair seat and a plurality of member seats, and attendees speak using the microphone units. However, the chair has the right to proceed. In other words, the chair has the authority to turn on only the microphone unit of the member who has made a request to speak, and to refrain from saying other members.

For this reason, each member's seat is provided with a comment request button, and the comment request button and the microphone unit are connected to the control box on the chairman's seat side. The lamp of the member seat on the control box side lights up, and the chairman sees it and turns on the microphone switch as appropriate. In this way, each member of the Diet is restricted from speaking out.

[0004]

However, depending on, for example, the content of a bill or the circumstances of proceedings, it may be necessary to provide a place where participants can talk with each other without a chairman.

[0005] Such a mode in which attendees talk with each other is called a free talk mode. However, in the related art, since there is no particular limitation on the number of people who can participate in speech, the proceedings may be confused. There was a thing.

Recently, general-purpose personal computers, so-called personal computers, have been used for control boxes (communication control means). In other words, communication control software is installed on a personal computer to manage the order of speech requests, the number of speeches, and the resolution voting.
If the PC suddenly stops functioning for some reason while the proceedings are in progress, the entire system becomes unusable, causing serious trouble in the operation of the conference.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and a first object of the present invention is to make it possible to arbitrarily restrict the number of participants in a free talk mode and to create a space in a participation frame. In such a case, an object of the present invention is to provide a two-way communication system capable of participating in a free talk in the order of arrival of the participation request. Further, a second object of the present invention is to provide a two-way communication system capable of performing continuous communication without a blank period even when the communication control means (personal computer) has stopped functioning. Is to do.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to achieve the first object, the present invention provides a single master unit and a plurality of slave units, and a communication between the master unit and the slave unit and between the slave units. A two-way communication system including communication control means for controlling communication, wherein the master unit has a master unit-initiated communication mode having a communication selection right for permitting communication with a specific slave unit among the slave units; The device includes at least two communication modes of a communication mode between child devices that allow communication between the plurality of child devices without the intervention of the device, and the communication control unit includes: The communication control includes a slave unit registration frame for limiting the number of slave units that can participate in the communication between the slave units, and a standby registration frame for registering the slave units leaked from the slave unit registration frame in a communication participation request order. Means, if there is a vacancy in the child unit registration frame,
It is characterized in that standby child devices are registered in the child device registration frame in the standby registration frame on a first-come, first-served basis and participate in the inter-child device communication.

In order to achieve the second object, the communication control means is connected to a transmission / reception line including the master unit and the slave units via a communication monitoring control unit,
When the communication control unit is in a function stop state, the communication monitoring control unit automatically executes the inter-subunit communication mode.

According to a preferred aspect of the present invention, when the communication control means recovers from the function stop state, the communication control means acquires the recovery communication data from the communication monitoring control unit and starts the communication. Therefore, a blank period does not occur even when the communication control unit is restored.

The communication medium between the master unit and each slave unit may be wired or wireless, but wireless, which does not require wiring, is preferred. Even in the case of wireless communication, infrared rays which do not have a risk of eavesdropping due to radio wave leakage are particularly preferable. In addition, by providing a microphone unit and a speaker unit in each of the master unit and each of the slave units, even when the conference facility is wide, it is possible to clearly hear the statements of others.
The invention is generally suitable for conference facilities.

[0012]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an example in which a two-way communication system according to the present invention is constructed assuming a conference hall.

This two-way communication system includes one master unit 10 for a chairman, a plurality of slave units 20a to 20m for a member of the council,
A communication control unit 30 for controlling communication between the master device 10 and the slave device 20 and between the slave devices 20 is provided. The communication medium used is infrared. Each of the slave units 20a to 20m has the same configuration, and in the following description, unless it is particularly necessary to specify the slave unit, the reference numeral 20 is simply used without adding a suffix alphabet.

The master unit 10 is provided with a microphone unit 11 and a speaker unit 12, and a voting button 13 used for voting. Each of the slave units 20 also has a microphone unit 21 and a speaker unit 22.
And a voting button 23 are provided.
Is provided with a speech request (call request) button 24. In addition, a hand light switch, a speaker volume adjustment switch, and the like may be provided.

Although not shown, the master unit 10 and each slave unit 20 have an infrared transmitter and an infrared receiver built therein, and the ceiling of a conference facility, for example, includes an infrared transmitter / receiver 41 on the ceiling. A line 40 is laid.

In this embodiment, the communication control means 30
Comprises a personal computer main body 31 having a display 32, and communication control software for operating this system is installed in the personal computer main body 31. The personal computer main body 31 may be a general-purpose machine, but includes a startup history file referred to at the time of startup.

In this embodiment, the personal computer body 31
Is the transmission / reception line 40 via the communication monitoring control unit 50
Connected to. The communication monitoring control unit 50 is a type of a repeater having a sequential control function, and sends a speech request signal or the like from each slave unit 20 to the personal computer main body 31 in time series.

The communication monitoring and control unit 50 also has a communication control function for executing a communication mode between slave units in place of the personal computer main unit 31 when the personal computer main unit 31 has stopped functioning. Although not shown, the PC main body 31 is provided with a speech permission button, a communication mode switch, and the like. The personal computer body 31 may be operated by the chairman or may be operated by a member of the secretariat.

This two-way communication system has a master unit (chairperson).
A master unit-initiated communication mode (chairperson selection mode) 10 has a communication selection right for permitting communication to a specific slave unit among the slave units (members) 20, and a plurality of child units without the master unit 10 intervening. Machine 2
It has at least two communication modes, that is, a communication mode between child devices (free talk mode) that enables communication between the units.

First, the parent device-initiated communication mode (chairperson selection mode) will be described. For example, when the speech request button 24 of the slave 20a is pressed, the speech request signal is transmitted from the infrared transmitter of the slave 20a and received by the infrared transmitter / receiver 41 on the ceiling. Then, the speech request signal is input to the personal computer main body 31 via the transmission / reception line 40 and the communication monitoring control unit 50.

Although not shown, in this embodiment, each member's seat is displayed on the display 32, and the personal computer body 31 displays the member's seat in response to a speech request signal from the slave unit 20a. Is blinking displayed, for example. In addition to the statement request display, the order of arrival of the statement request can be displayed as, for example, “1”, “2”,.

When the chair (or a secretariat) permits a request for a message from the slave unit 20a, a communication channel is assigned to the slave unit 20a from the personal computer main body 31 via the infrared transmitter / receiver 41. This allows the member of the slave unit 20a to speak, and the details of the exchange between the member and the chairperson are transmitted to the other slave units 20 via the infrared transmitter / receiver 41. In this master unit-initiated communication mode,
The chair can give multiple members permission to speak,
It is not possible to speak between slave units (members of the Diet).

Next, the communication mode between the slave units (free talk mode) will be described. In this inter-slave unit communication mode, a registration frame R and a waiting frame W are set in a predetermined file area of the personal computer main unit 31 as shown in FIG. The number of machines is arbitrarily limited.

Referring to the flowchart of FIG. 3, if there are four registration frames R, for example,
Registers in the registration frame R the up to the first four slave units 20 for which a speech request has been made, assigns a predetermined communication channel to each of the registered slave units 20, and performs free talk between the slave units 20. Is possible. If the registration frame R is full, the registration is made in the waiting frame W in the order of the speech request.

When the speech of the slave unit 20 participating in the free talk is completed in a state where the registration frame R is full, the slave unit 20 is deleted from the registration frame R, and the first waiting slave unit 20 in the waiting frame W is deleted. Then, it registers in the free area of the registration frame R, allocates a predetermined communication channel, and participates in free talk.

As described above, according to the present invention, the number of cordless handsets (members) that can participate in free talk can be limited, so that irregular remarks can be suppressed, and proceedings can be maintained in order even with free talk. Can be performed. The contents of the exchange between the slave units in the free talk are also transmitted to the other slave units 20 via the infrared light transmitter / receiver 41.

Next, a case in which the personal computer main body 31 has stopped functioning for some reason, that is, a so-called down state will be described. In this case, since the selection of permission to speak is disabled by the personal computer body 31, that is, the parent device-initiated communication mode (chairperson selection mode) is disabled, the sequential control function of the communication monitoring control unit 50 replaces the personal computer body 31. Then, the communication mode between slave units (free talk mode) is executed.

As described above, according to the present invention, even if the personal computer main body 31 goes down during the operation of the present system, the communication monitoring control unit 50 maintains at least the communication mode between the slave units, so that a blank period occurs. Never.

Next, the operation when the personal computer main body 31 is started (including when the personal computer 31 is restarted after recovery from the down state) will be described. The personal computer main body 31 recognizes the previous end state at the time of startup and determines whether to initialize the system or to continue the operation.

Therefore, when the personal computer 31 starts up,
First, the boot history file is accessed. And
If, for example, a predetermined flag is not written in the boot history file, it is determined that the process has been completed normally last time, and the system is initialized and started up.

On the other hand, if a predetermined flag is written in the boot history file, it is determined that the previous operation was terminated in an abnormal state, and the communication data (free talk mode) held by the communication monitoring control unit 50 is held. The data is transmitted to the personal computer main body 31 to start up. In this embodiment, the personal computer 3
1 stands up in the parent device-initiated communication mode with the child device participating in the free talk mode kept as it is.

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. First, in the communication mode between slave units (free talk mode), in order to limit the number of participating slave units, a registration frame and a waiting frame are set in the above-described embodiment. This can be realized by a software program for comparing and judging the size of the registration frame and the order of arrival of the speech request signals for the waiting frame.

The communication monitoring and control unit can also have a master unit-initiated communication mode program. Further, since the communication monitoring and control unit is of a fail-safe type, in some cases, the number of the bassocomputer main units may be two, and if one goes down, the other may be switched to the other.

Although the present invention is suitable for conference facilities such as international conference halls, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to a two-way communication system in which a portable unit is a portable terminal. Needless to say.

[0035]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Participants in the slave unit communication mode (free talk mode) can be arbitrarily limited, and if a space is available in the participation space, the user can participate in free talk in the order of arrival of the request for participation. In addition, irregular remarks can be suppressed, and even free talk can proceed with proceedings while maintaining order.

The communication control means (personal computer) is connected to the transmission / reception line including the master unit and each slave unit via the communication monitoring control unit. The provisional operation of the system by the unit allows the system to be used continuously without a blank period.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing an embodiment in which a two-way communication system according to the present invention is constructed assuming a conference hall.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a registration frame and a waiting frame used in a communication mode between child devices in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an operation in the communication mode between the slave units.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 10 master unit (for chair) 11 microphone unit 12 speaker unit 13 voting button 20 slave unit (for member of parliament) 21 microphone unit 22 speaker unit 23 voting button 24 speech request button 30 communication control means (personal computer) 31 personal computer 32 display 40 transmission / reception Line 41 Infrared transmitter / receiver 50 Communication monitoring and control unit

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Tatsuharu Harima 2206 Naruse, Machida-shi, Tokyo F-term in Audio-Technica Co., Ltd. (reference) 5K015 JA01 5K033 AA09 BA02 BA14 CB01 CB06 CB13 DA01 DA20 DB12 EB03 EC02 EC03

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A master unit, a plurality of slave units, and the master unit
In a bidirectional communication system including communication control means for controlling communication between the slaves and between the slaves, a communication selection right in which the master permits communication to a specific slave among the slaves And at least two communication modes: a master unit-initiated communication mode having: and a slave unit communication mode that enables communication between the plurality of slave units without the master unit intervening. In the inter-sub-unit communication mode, the sub-unit registration frame for limiting the number of sub-units that can participate in the inter-sub-unit communication, and the sub-units leaked from the sub-unit registration frame are registered in the communication participation request first-come-first-served order. A standby registration frame, the communication control means, when a space is generated in the slave unit registration frame, registers the standby slave units in the slave unit registration frame in the standby registration frame on a first-come, first-served basis; Characterized by participating in intercommunication Communication system. 2. The communication control means is connected to a transmission / reception line including the master unit and each of the slave units via a communication monitoring control unit. 2. The control unit according to claim 1, wherein the control unit automatically executes the communication mode between the slave units.
2. The two-way communication system according to claim 1. 3. The communication control unit according to claim 2, wherein when the communication control unit is restored from the function stop state, the communication control unit acquires communication data at the time of restoration from the communication monitoring control unit and starts the communication data. 2. The two-way communication system according to claim 1. 4. A communication medium between the master unit and each of the slave units is infrared, and the master unit and each of the slave units are provided with a microphone unit and a speaker unit, respectively, and are applied to a conference facility. The two-way communication system according to claim 1, 2, or 3, wherein: