JP2004165946A - Web conference system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a WEB conference system which can save the minutes of a conference, enables users to efficiently read the minutes of the conference, and can reduce the bandwidth of a network. <P>SOLUTION: The WEB conference system is connected to a plurality of terminals through a network and distributes uttered information, chat information, and display material information to the respective terminals, and relates the uttered information and chat information to materials and saves it as time-series information. With the minutes of the conference which are saved, an archive function displays the materials, reproduces the uttered information, and displays the chat information. As the materials are switched to switch the uttered information and chat information to contents related with the materials, efficient read can be made by using the materials as the indexes. Moving pictures and names of the president and speakers and the uttered information are distributed to the respective terminals, so the users can read the contents of the conference and the bandwidth of the network is reduced. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a web conference system using a web browser and real-time streaming.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, in this type of WEB conference system, the server is merely a relay, and its contents do not remain even after the conference ends.
[0003]
For example, Non-Patent Document 1 discloses an audio and video conference function that can communicate with people on the Internet, a whiteboard function that enables real-time collaboration with other people through images, and a real-time communication with many people. However, it does not describe a chat function that allows a user to have a conversation, but does not describe storing minutes.
[0004]
In addition, Non-Patent Document 2 describes a server that integrates communication and an application that provides a communication function between a plurality of users using audio, video, and real-time data. No possible web conference system is described.
[0005]
[Non-patent document 1]
Microsoft Corporation, "NetMeeting Home Page Function Overview", March 14, 2000, [online], [Search October 28, 2002], <http: // www. Microsoft. com / japan / windows / NetMeeting / Features / default. htm>
[Non-patent document 2]
Macromedia, Inc. , “Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX Overview”, (c) 1995-2000, [online], [searched October 28, 2002], <http: // www. macromedia. com / jp / software / flashcom / productinfo / product_overview / >>
[0006]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the conventional WEB conference system described above, since no record is left, there is a problem that the contents of the conference cannot be saved or examined later. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems and to provide a means for storing and viewing minutes. Another object of the present invention is to provide a means for efficiently browsing stored minutes. Another object of the present invention is to provide a means for reducing the bandwidth used in a network.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
The WEB conference system according to the present invention is a WEB conference system for holding a conference on a WEB browser, in which an image is displayed on a WEB browser screen of a terminal of the chairman and other participant terminals.
[0008]
The progress of the meeting is controlled by the chair, and the live video display and audio distribution are reduced to two, the chair and the participants designated by the chair, to reduce the network bandwidth used and to store the minutes information. We are reducing the amount.
[0009]
The WEB conference system of the present invention starts from the time when the chair enters the conference room, and saves the minutes from that time. When a participant wants to speak, he or she presses the request for speech button on the web browser, and the chairperson presses the snapshot button on the web browser. Live video and audio are distributed, and the audio is stored in the communication server. The chat screen can be written by any of the participants, and the writing is displayed on the chat display screen of all the participants and stored in the communication server. The materials are displayed on the central whiteboard, and only the chair can display the materials. When the materials are displayed, the images are displayed on the whiteboard of all the participants, and the communication server displays the minutes file before display. Is switched to the new minutes file associated with the displayed material.
[0010]
The archive browsing function displays the relevant minutes by searching the meeting room. The archive browsing screen is displayed on the web browser, the material image is displayed on the left side, the content of the chat for the material image is displayed on the right side, and the voices of the chairman and the speaker are reproduced. When the viewer turns over the material on the WEB browser, the content of the chat and the reproduction of the voice are also switched to the new material.
[0011]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0012]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a web conference system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0013]
The WEB conference system includes a WWW server 1 connected to a network such as the Internet, an application server 2, a communication server 3, a conference management unit 4 configured by the application server 2, and a conference control configured by the communication server 3. It comprises a unit 5 and a browsing control unit 6. The WEB conference system is connected to a chair terminal 26 and conference participant terminals 27-1 to 27-n (n is the number of participant terminals) via the Internet 25. The WWW server 1, the application server 2, and the communication server 3 can be built in one server hardware, or can be built separately from the server hardware. The chair terminal 26 and the conference participant terminals 27 to 27-n are constituted by computers such as personal computers, and include input means such as a keyboard and a mouse, display means such as a display, audio input / output means such as a microphone and a speaker, and live cameras and the like. The terminal has an image input unit and a unit for accessing a WEB conference system such as a WEB browser provided with a plug-in necessary for transmitting and receiving information to and from the WEB conference system. Each terminal participates in the conference via the communication server.
[0014]
The meeting management unit 4 includes a meeting management function 7 for holding a meeting and a user management function 8 for performing user authentication. Meeting holding information and user authentication information are stored in a management database 9.
[0015]
The conference control unit 5 includes a participant registration function 11 for distributing attendee information 10 of the chairman and participants, an image distribution function 13 for delivering a live image 12 of the chairman and the speaker, and a voice of the chairman and the speaker (speech information 14). ), A character distribution function 17 for distributing chat input data (chat information 16), a material image distribution function 19 for distributing material information 18, the statement information 14, chat information 16, and material information 18 described above. Is stored.
[0016]
The browsing control unit 6 includes a minutes browsing function 21 for browsing the stored minutes.
[0017]
Each function can be realized by a program, and each server has means corresponding to each function.
[0018]
2 and 3 are flowcharts showing the processing operation according to the embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 5 is a screen of the chair terminal 26, and FIG. 6 is a screen of the participant terminals 27-1 to 27-n.
[0019]
First, FIG. 5 which is a display screen of the chair terminal 26 will be described. In FIG. 5, reference numeral 50 denotes a chair's live video (moving image) and name display, 51 denotes a whiteboard for displaying attached materials and the like, and 52 denotes a speaker's live video (moving image) and name display. Reference numeral 53 denotes a participant list, in which a snapshot (still image) and a name of the participant are displayed, and a column for display is provided above each snapshot. If there is a request from a participant, the top of the snapshot is displayed in yellow. This display area also serves as a button, and when the chairperson presses the button at the top of the snapshot with a mouse or the like, it is displayed in red, the participant becomes the speaker, and the live image and name of the speaker are displayed in 52 at the upper right of the screen. Is displayed. Reference numeral 54 denotes a display of chat text, and reference numeral 55 denotes a chat input area. Reference numeral 56 denotes a button for clearing the writing on the whiteboard, reference numeral 57 denotes a page turning button for displaying the previous page of the material, and reference numeral 58 denotes a page turning button for displaying the next page of the material. An end button 59 is provided.
[0020]
Next, FIG. 6, which is a display screen of the participant terminals 27-1 to 27-n, will be described. In FIG. 6, reference numeral 60 denotes a live video and name of the chair, 61 denotes a whiteboard, 62 denotes a live video and name of a speaker, 63 denotes a list of participants, and 64 denotes a chat text. , 65 are chat input areas. Reference numeral 66 denotes a speech request button. When a participant presses the button with a mouse or the like, the participant's snapshot is displayed in yellow above the participant's snapshot, and the participant's snapshot on the chairperson screen (FIG. 5) is also displayed in yellow. . 67 is an end button.
[0021]
When the chair or a participant participates in the conference, authentication and selection of the conference are performed by the application server 2 from the terminal through the WWW server 1 as shown in FIG. 2 (S1). It is checked whether or not the participant is the chair (S2). If the participant is the chair, a conference is held, a conference screen (FIG. 5) is displayed (S3), and storage of minutes is started (S4). . If the participant is not the chairperson, it is checked whether or not the meeting is being held (S5). If the meeting is being held, a snapshot is taken (S6), the meeting screen is displayed, and the snapshot is displayed in the participant list. It is displayed (S7). The snapshot of the participant and the snapshot of the chair (not shown in the flowchart of FIG. 2) are stored as part of the minutes of the meeting.
[0022]
When a participant wants to make a comment (S8), the participant presses a statement request button (66 in FIG. 6), which is displayed in yellow above the participant's snapshot, and the participant's snap on the chairperson screen (FIG. 5). It is displayed in yellow above the shot (S9). Upon seeing this, if the chair wants to make a comment (S10), he presses the button (yellow display part) above the snapshot with a mouse or the like (S11). Then, the upper part of the snapshot is displayed in red (S12), the live video and the name of the speaker are displayed in the upper right of the screen (52 in FIG. 5, 62 in FIG. 6), and the sound is distributed (S13).
[0023]
As shown in FIG. 3, when the participant has an opinion or a question (S14), and writes a sentence on the chat input screen (55 in FIG. 5, 65 in FIG. 6) (S15), the sentence is delivered. Is displayed on the chat display screen (54 in FIG. 5, 64 in FIG. 6) (S16).
[0024]
When displaying the material (S17), the chairperson presses the page turning button to display the material (S18), and the material image is distributed and displayed on the whiteboards 51 and 61 of all the members (S19). At that time, the minutes storage file is switched (S20), and the storage of the minutes associated with the displayed material starts.
[0025]
When the conference is over (S21), when the end button (59 in FIG. 5 and 67 in FIG. 6) is pressed (S22), in the case of a participant other than the chairperson (S23), only his / her own conference screen is closed (S26). The snapshot disappears from the conference screen of the other participants (S27). In the case of the chair (S23), the conference screens of all participants are closed (S24), and at the same time, the writing of the minutes is ended (S25).
[0026]
The minutes thus accumulated can be viewed as follows. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the archive browsing processing operation according to the embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is an archive browsing screen.
[0027]
When the user selects archive viewing on a processing selection screen (not shown) and selects an archive of minutes to be viewed on an archive search screen (not shown), the minutes of the selected meeting are displayed as shown in FIG. In FIG. 7, reference numeral 71 denotes a whiteboard on which materials displayed on the whiteboard during the meeting are displayed. 70 is a display of the chairperson's snapshot and name, and 72 is a display of the speaker's snapshot and name. 77 is a display of chat contents. The ancillary materials, the speaker's snapshot and name, the chat, and the comment information displayed on the whiteboard are displayed and reproduced in association with each other. Reference numeral 74 denotes a button for playing, stopping, pausing, and the like of the utterance information, and reference numeral 75 denotes a button for raising and lowering the volume. Reference numeral 76 denotes a button for switching the screen of the attached material (page turning button). By switching the attached material by pressing this button with a mouse or the like, the statement information, the snapshot and name of the speaker, and the contents of the chat are also related to the attached material. Switch to what you have done. A button 78 returns to an archive search screen (not shown).
[0028]
When displaying the minutes by browsing the archive, as shown in FIG. 4, authentication and selection of a conference are performed by the application server 2 from the terminal through the WWW server 1 (S28). If the searched conference room is the target one (S29), the browsing screen (FIG. 7) is displayed, and the voice and chat immediately after the conference is held are displayed (S30). When turning the material (S31), when the page turning button 76 is pressed (S32), the next material image (or the previous material image) is displayed (S33), and the voice and chat associated with the displayed material are displayed. The sentence is reproduced and displayed (S34).
[0029]
In the above-described embodiment, the speaker can be selected and the page of the display material can be turned only by the terminal of the chair, but the terminal of the participant designated by the chair may be configured to perform the same operation as the terminal of the chair.
[0030]
As described above, the invention made by the inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment, and can be variously modified without departing from the gist of the invention. Of course.
[0031]
【The invention's effect】
Since the statement information and the display material information are distributed to each terminal, and the statement information and the display material information are stored as minutes, the minutes can be browsed and the contents examined after the meeting. In addition, by operating the display of materials from the chair terminal, the contents of remarks at the meeting and the contents of chats are stored in chronological order according to the displayed materials, so that the displayed materials can be used as an index to efficiently view the contents of remarks and chats. can do. In addition, videos, remarks, and names of the chair and speakers are distributed so that you can fully understand the contents of the conference, and all participants will receive still images, so you can check all participants who participated in the conference And the bandwidth used by the network can be reduced.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a WEB conference system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a flowchart (1) showing a processing operation according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart (part 2) illustrating a processing operation according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an archive browsing process operation according to the embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a screen of a chair terminal.
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a screen of a participant terminal.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an archive browsing screen.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... WWW server, 2 application server, 3 ... communication server, 4 ... conference management part, 5 ... conference control part, 6 ... browsing control part, 7 ... conference room management function, 8 ... user management function, 9 ... management database, 10: attendee information, 11: participant registration function, 12: live image, 13: image distribution function, 14: speech information, 15: voice distribution function, 16: chat information, 17: character distribution function, 18: material information , 19: document image distribution function, 20: minutes storage function, 21: minutes viewing function, 25: Internet, 26: chair terminal, 27-1 to 27-n: conference participant terminals, 50, 60: chair Display of live images and names, 51, 61: Whiteboard, 52, 62: Display of live images and names of speakers, 53, 63: List of participants, 54, 64: Display of chat texts, 5, 65: Chat input area, 56: Clear button of white board, 57: Page turning button (previous page), 58: Page turning button (next page) 59, 67: Meeting end button, 66: Speak request button, 70 ... Display of chairperson's snapshot and name, 71. Whiteboard, 72. Display of speaker's snapshot and name, 77. Display of chat contents, 74. Playback, stop, pause button of statement information, 75. Volume Button, 76 ... Page turning button, 78 ... Back button

Claims (7)

A web conference system for connecting to a plurality of terminals via a network,
A WEB conference system for distributing utterance information and display material information to each terminal and storing the utterance information and display material information as minutes. 2. The WEB conference system according to claim 1, wherein the chat information is distributed to each terminal, and the chat information is stored as minutes together with the utterance information and the display material information. The WEB conference system according to claim 2, wherein the comment information, the chat information, and the display material information are associated with the displayed material and stored as time-series information. 4. The WEB conference system according to claim 2, wherein the stored minutes display the material by using the archive browsing function, reproduce the statement information, and display the chat information. 5. The WEB conference system according to claim 4, wherein in the archive browsing function, by switching the material, the statement information and the chat information are also switched to the contents associated with the material. The WEB according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a video, a name, and speech information of a chairman and a speaker, and a still image and a name of a participant are delivered to each terminal. Conference system. 7. The WEB conference system according to claim 6, wherein a participant requesting a speech is displayed on the chair terminal, and the speaker can be designated at the chair terminal.

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