JP2004056550A - Electronic conference system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic conference system that can handle image information of any file format. <P>SOLUTION: In this electronic conference system, at least two image information transmitting devices are connected through a network. The image information transmitting devices have an interface device provided with an RGB input terminal and for converting image information inputted by an RGB signal into a file format that can be handled by the following information processor and outputting the converted image information to the information processor, and the information processor for controlling the transmission of the image information and inputting the image information outputted from the interface device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an electronic conference system for transmitting and displaying image information in a plurality of image information transmission apparatuses connected via a network, and more particularly to a technology capable of transmitting image information regardless of the file format of the image information. It is.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art In general, there is known an electronic conferencing system for performing a conference by mutually transmitting images and sounds between geographically distant points. In this type of electronic conference system, it is necessary to transmit not only an image of a person participating in the conference but also an image of a document such as a document used in the conference. Have been.
[0003]
Such an electronic conference system includes a transmission line network interface device for controlling data transmission by connecting to a network line for transmitting image information and the like via a network, and an information processing device for actually controlling transmission of image information and the like. It is composed of A personal computer (hereinafter referred to as a communication PC) is used as the information processing apparatus, and a program necessary for transmitting image information and the like is incorporated in the communication PC.
[0004]
This communication PC can handle image information that has been subjected to compression processing in order to transmit image information efficiently. As this compressed file format, JPEG (Joint Photographic Expert Group), PNG (Portable Network Graphics), WMF (Windows (registered trademark) Meta Files) and the like are used.
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In a communication PC, image information in a file format compressed by such a compression method can be handled as it is, but image information in another file format cannot be handled as it is. Since the communication PC is a computer, it is possible to freely convert the file format. However, the reason for not using such a method is that the purpose of the communication PC is mainly to communicate image information, etc. In other words, since it is a public object for communication purposes and the use environment must not be changed by an individual user, it is preferable not to use for such conversion purpose in terms of the system configuration.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic conference system in which a device having an RGB output terminal can be connected as it is and can be taken into a communication PC. .
[0006]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
An electronic conference system according to the present invention is an electronic conference system in which at least two image information transmission devices are connected to a network, wherein the image information transmission device has an RGB input terminal and converts image information input by an RGB signal. An information processing device that converts the image data into a file format that can be handled by the information processing device, outputs the information to the information processing device, controls transmission of image information, and inputs image information output from the interface device, Which is characterized by having
[0007]
Further, the electronic conference system according to the present invention is characterized in that it has an image input device having an RGB output connected to the interface device.
The image input device is a personal computer, a supercomputer, a super CAD (Computer Aided Design), or a document camera.
[0008]
[Action]
According to the present invention, an interface device that has an RGB input terminal and converts image information input as an RGB signal into a file format that can be handled by a communication PC is provided. Therefore, if the image input device has an RGB output, For example, the data can be taken into the communication PC and transmitted regardless of the file format.
[0009]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an electronic conference system according to an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, transmission control units 111 and 112 are connected to the network line 5. The image information transmission device 1 is connected to the transmission control unit 111, and the image information transmission device 2 is connected to the transmission control unit 112.
In the present system, two image information transmitting apparatuses are connected via the network line 5, but it goes without saying that any number of the image information transmitting apparatuses may be connected as long as the number is two or more.
[0010]
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an electronic conference device per station of the electronic conference system according to an embodiment of the present invention. There is a required number of such electronic conference devices, each of which is installed at a remote location.
[0011]
In FIG. 2, reference numeral 1 denotes an image transmission device which controls transmission and reception of voice and image information with an image transmission device of another station via a network line 5. The center of the configuration of the image transmission device 1 is a first information processing device 11 (which corresponds to a conventional communication PC) that directly transmits and receives audio and image information.
[0012]
The first information processing device 11 includes a display device 12 that displays an image from the information processing device 11, a keyboard 13 that is a key input device, a storage device 14 that is a hard disk that stores required information, and one input device for image information. A memory card drive 15 as a drive device of a memory card (not shown), a mouse 16 as an input device for pointer data, a speaker 17 with a microphone as an input / output device for audio information in a conference, and input as RGB signals. A / D conversion, compression and conversion of analog image data into a predetermined file format such as JPEG, PNG, WMF, and data processing so as to be loaded on a communication line such as Ethernet (registered trademark). 11 and the output image from the information processing device 11 is passed through without any processing. Interface device 18 connected to the Kuta 41, transmission network interface device 111 for controlling the data transmission by connecting to a network line 5 is connected. The information processing device 11 controls these inputs and outputs.
[0013]
Reference numeral 21 denotes a second information processing device which is, for example, a personal computer having a USB (Universal Serial Bus) terminal capable of inputting various signals, and having an RGB output terminal for outputting console information as RGB signals, and 22 denotes console information in RGB. A supercomputer having an RGB output terminal for outputting a signal as a signal, 23 is a document camera having an RGB output terminal for outputting document information as an RGB signal, 31 is an image such as an image scanner or a digital camera which outputs image information via a USB terminal. It is a capture device.
[0014]
This electronic conference apparatus can be used as the image transmission apparatus 1 alone, and as shown in FIG. 2, connects any one of the second information processing apparatus 21, the supercomputer 22, and the document camera 23 via an RGB cable. It can also be used. By connecting with an RGB cable, one connected image out of image information of an image scanner or a digital camera, image information of a console of a supercomputer, or image information captured by a document camera through the second information processing device 21 The information is input as an RGB signal to the interface device 18, where it is compressed, converted into the above-mentioned predetermined file format and output to the first information processing device 11, and finally to another station via the network line 5. It is transmitted.
[0015]
Next, the operation of the electronic conference system according to the present invention for inputting image information via an RGB cable will be described.
First, a case where a digital camera is used as the image capturing device 31 and an image captured by the digital camera is captured into the first information processing device 11 via the second information processing device 21 will be described. First, the RGB input terminal of the interface device 18 and the RGB output terminal of the second information processing device 21 are connected by an RGB cable.
[0016]
The first image of the required image is output from the digital camera and is input to the second information processing device 21. This image is input to the interface device 18 via an RGB cable, where it is A / D converted, compressed, converted to the above-mentioned predetermined file format, input to the first information processing device 11, and displayed on the display device. 12 is displayed. After confirming the display, if the display is good, the user inputs a file name from the keyboard 13 and stores the image in the storage device 14. Hereinafter, in the same manner, the required number of pieces of image information are stored in the storage device 14 with the respective file names. Thus, the image of the digital camera that cannot be handled by the first information processing apparatus 11 can be handled.
[0017]
Next, a case where an image of the console of the supercomputer is captured will be described. First, the RGB input terminal of the interface device 18 and the RGB output terminal of the supercomputer 22 are connected with an RGB cable.
[0018]
When the first image of the required image is output from the super computer, it is input to the interface device 18 via an RGB cable, where it is A / D converted, compressed, converted to the above-mentioned predetermined file format, and 1 is input to the information processing device 11 and displayed on the display device 12. After confirming the display, if the display is good, the user inputs a file name from the keyboard 13 and stores the image in the storage device 14. Hereinafter, in the same manner, the required number of pieces of image information are stored in the storage device 14 with the respective file names. In this way, the image of the console of the supercomputer that could not be handled by the first information processing device 11 can be handled.
Here, the supercomputer has been described as an example, but the image of the console of the superCAD can be similarly handled by the first information input device 11.
[0019]
Next, a case where an image of the document camera 23 is captured will be described. First, the RGB input terminal of the interface device 18 and the RGB output terminal of the document camera 23 are connected with an RGB cable.
[0020]
A required document is placed on the imaging surface of the document camera 23, and an image is captured by a document camera built in the document camera 23. This image is input to the interface device 18 via an RGB cable, where it is A / D converted, compressed, converted to the above-mentioned predetermined file format, input to the first information processing device 11, and displayed on the display device. 12 is displayed. After confirming the display, if the display is good, the user inputs a file name from the keyboard 13 and stores the image in the storage device 14. Hereinafter, in the same manner, the required number of pieces of image information are stored in the storage device 14 with the respective file names. Thus, the image of the document camera 23 that cannot be handled by the first information processing apparatus 11 can be handled.
[0021]
As described above, it is possible to handle image information that could not be handled as it is without modifying the first information processing apparatus 11.
[0022]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, as described above, an interface device that has an RGB input terminal and converts image information input as an RGB signal into a file format such as JPEG, PNG, or WMF that can be handled through the first information processing device Therefore, if the image input device has an RGB output, it can be taken into the first information processing device and transmitted regardless of the file format.
Therefore, since the first information processing apparatus does not need to change the use environment, it is possible to provide an electronic conference system suitable for the system configuration.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an electronic conference system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an electronic conference device per station of the electronic conference system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[Explanation of symbols]
1, 2 Image information transmitting device 5 Network line 11 First information processing device 12 Display device 13 Keyboard 14 Storage device 15 Memory card drive 16 Mouse 17 Microphone speaker 18 Interface device 21 Second information processing device 22 Supercomputer 23 Document camera 31 Image capture device 111, 112 Transmission control unit

Claims (6)

An electronic conference system in which at least two image information transmission devices are connected to a network,
The image information transmission device,
An interface device that includes an RGB input terminal, converts image information input as RGB signals into a file format that can be handled by an information processing device, and outputs the file information to the information processing device;
An information processing device that controls transmission of image information and inputs image information output from the interface device,
An electronic conference system, comprising: The electronic conference system according to claim 1, further comprising an image input device having an RGB output connected to the interface device. 2. The electronic conference system according to claim 1, wherein said image input device is a personal computer. The electronic conference system according to claim 1, wherein the image input device is a super computer. 2. The electronic conference system according to claim 1, wherein the image input device is a super CAD. 2. The electronic conference system according to claim 1, wherein the image input device is a document camera.

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