JP2004258819A - Electronic communication support server - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize a communication system which is smooth and easy to use by visual expression of a relationship between speakers in a system used for communications such as the Internet and a chat to which many and unspecified persons join in an ad hoc mode. <P>SOLUTION: In a server which receives input information such as an image, voice or a character from two or more terminals, and controls these input information and outputs it as communication information, a means to receive the input information is set up and at the same time, a table which defines a relationship such as closeness between terminals is also set up. A control means performs control such as displaying input images from respective terminals having high closeness in close proximity with reference to this table. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is effective when applied to a technology having an electronic communication between a server having a display function and a plurality of terminal devices (strictly, terminal operators) accessing the server while browsing the display of the server. About technology.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In the Internet or ad hoc mode, a so-called chat or electronic conference system (hereinafter collectively referred to as “electronic communication”) in which an unspecified number of participants communicate with each other through characters or voice via a keyboard or a microphone through a terminal device is known. Have been.
[0003]
Furthermore, in recent years, a video chat system or a video conference system in which a speaker himself is photographed by a CCD camera and the image is displayed on a terminal device of the other party has been put into practical use as the communication network has been broadened. .
[0004]
By the way, in such a system, there is no means for associating unspecified participants (speakers) with each other. There was no other way but to recognize the friendship and encourage conversation.
[0005]
That is, in the prior art, no matter how intimate the speakers participating in the electronic communication become, the characters and images on the screen do not change, so that the participants get tired of such electronic communication. In many cases, it was not enough to show the willingness to participate even to third parties who browsed it.
[0006]
In this regard, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-222575 (Patent Document 1), a compatibility diagnosis function and a compatibility display function are added to the system in view of the fact that the conventional system merely displays the content of the utterance and the speaker information. It proposes a technology for diagnosing and displaying compatibility between the speaker and the viewer.
[0007]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2001-222575 A (FIG. 1)
[0008]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, Patent Literature 1 does not specifically disclose how to diagnose compatibility between a speaker and a viewer. Also, the above-mentioned Patent Literature 1 is merely for a viewer to search for a speaker who is compatible with himself / herself, and does not indicate a relationship between speakers who are currently performing electronic communication. For this reason, it was not possible to know whether or not the conversation that was currently in progress was exciting, and how much the relationship between the two parties in conversation was.
[0009]
The present invention has been made in view of such a point, and a system for visually expressing a relationship between speakers in a system used for electronic communication such as chatting in which an unspecified number of people join in the Internet or ad hoc mode. Accordingly, it is a technical task to realize a smooth and easy-to-use electronic communication system.
[0010]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above problems, a first means of the present invention is a server which receives input information such as images, voices, or characters from two or more terminal devices, controls the input information, and outputs the information as communication information. A means for receiving the input information, and a table for defining a relationship between the terminal devices is provided, and the control means outputs the output information to the output means with reference to the table. It is.
[0011]
Here, the terminal device may be any terminal device capable of communication, such as a personal computer, a mobile phone type communication terminal device, and a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants). Normally, the terminal device has an input means for giving input information, which may be a keyboard, a touch panel, a mouse or the like for inputting character information. Further, a microphone for inputting audio information and a camera for inputting an image (still image or moving image) may be provided.
[0012]
The server is an information processing device such as a personal computer or a workstation. The terminal device can be accessed from the terminal device by a communication method such as wireless LAN, wired LAN, infrared communication, or Bluetooth (Bluetooth). ing.
[0013]
In the server, in a table defining the relationship between the terminal devices, the intimacy, compatibility, organization, and group attributes of the terminal devices identified by the ID and the address are registered. Then, the control means of the server processes input information input from the terminal device based on the contents of these tables and outputs the processed information to the output means.
[0014]
Here, the output unit may be a display device, a speaker, or the like of a terminal device used by a user, in addition to the display device, the speaker, or the like of the server itself.
[0015]
A second means for solving the problem is to register the closeness in the table.
[0016]
That is, the control means of the server refers to the table and controls the character information, voice information, and image information which are the outputs of the electronic communication between the terminal devices based on the degree of intimacy and the difference in the attributes.
[0017]
A third means for solving the problem is to provide a function of controlling image quality of image information as a control means, and to provide a function of a server or a terminal device as an output means based on a degree of relation between the terminal devices read from the table. The image information output to the display device is changed.
[0018]
Thus, in the case of electronic communication between terminal devices having low intimacy, the resolution of input image information from the terminal device may be reduced, or mosaic processing may be performed and output to the display device. The resolution may be increased or the mosaic processing may be removed as the intimacy between the two terminal devices increases.
[0019]
A fourth means for solving the problem is that a control means has a function of controlling sound quality or volume of audio information, and a server or a terminal which is an output means based on a degree of relation between terminal devices read from a table. The audio information output to the audio display device of the apparatus is changed.
[0020]
Accordingly, in the case of electronic communication between terminal devices having low intimacy, the volume of audio information input from each terminal device can be reduced or output from a speaker with degraded sound quality. good. Then, the volume may be increased or the sound quality may be improved as the intimacy between the two terminal devices increases.
[0021]
A fifth means for solving the problem is that the control means has a function of controlling the screen of the display device, and the server or the output means based on the degree of relation between the terminal devices read from the table. The display position of the output information for each terminal device to be output to the display device of the terminal device is changed.
[0022]
As a result, with regard to electronic communication between terminal devices having a high degree of intimacy or having the same attribute, input image regions from cameras provided in each terminal device are arranged at close positions and displayed on a display device. Can be done.
[0023]
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0024]
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram showing a system configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0025]
This embodiment includes a terminal device 1 and a server 2. The terminal device 1 is, for example, a personal computer. The hardware configuration includes a central processing unit (CPU) and a memory (not shown), storage devices such as a hard disk device, and input devices such as a keyboard, a mouse, a CCD camera, and a microphone. Is connected. Although not shown, this type of personal computer includes a display device such as a display device, an audio output device such as a speaker, and the like.
[0026]
Each of the functional units (101 to 108) shown in FIG. 1 is realized by executing a dedicated hardware and a program installed in the storage device by a central processing unit (CPU).
[0027]
In the terminal device 1, when receiving an input instruction of a user's keyboard, mouse, or the like, the image movement control unit 101 transmits movement instruction information of an image input by the CCD camera of the terminal 1 based on the input instruction to the server. 2 is notified to the server 2 via the data transmission unit 109.
[0028]
The character input unit 102 is a function unit that receives character information input via the keyboard, and the character information is transmitted to the server 2 via the data transmission unit 109.
[0029]
The conference host control unit 103 is a functional unit that receives a conference host instruction (start / end) based on a user's keyboard or mouse input instruction. Here, “meeting host” means hosting a meeting by using the communication control function of the server 2 (functional units denoted by reference numerals 203 to 209), and more specifically, the table 209 of the server 2. Means that mutual information notification using characters, sounds, and images (moving images / still images) is possible on a screen generated by the server 2 with users of terminal devices attributed as the same conference group as participating members of the conference. I do. This type of mechanism is called a so-called electronic conference or chat, and conventionally, a bidirectional character information notification function based on a combination of an ID (nickname or handle name) of a user of the terminal device 1 and an input character string has been mainly used. However, recently, with the development of communication infrastructure, broadband communication (broadband) has been realized, and it has become possible to host conferences using an information notification function using voice and moving images.
[0030]
When the user inputs a meeting hosting instruction (start / end) with an input instruction such as a keyboard or a mouse, the meeting hosting controller 103 transmits the instruction to the server 2 via the data transmitter 109. The server 2 updates a meeting host flag in a terminal-to-terminal relation data table described later based on this instruction.
[0031]
The camera image input unit 104 has a function of processing image data input from the CCD camera and outputting the processed data to the data transmission unit 109 and the camera image output unit 107.
[0032]
Here, the input image by the CCD camera may be either a still image or a moving image. In a normal case, the face of the user who operates the terminal device 1 is the input image.
[0033]
A display device (display device) is connected to the camera image output unit 107. The user inputs character information and voice information while checking his or her captured image on the display screen of his or her own terminal device 1. Can be done.
[0034]
The microphone voice input unit 108 is a functional unit that processes user voice data input through a microphone. The microphone audio input unit 108 transmits the audio data to the server 2 via the data transmission unit 109.
[0035]
The character output unit 106 is a functional unit for displaying character information received from another terminal device via the server 2 on the above-described display device.
[0036]
The microphone audio output unit 108 is a functional unit for outputting audio data transmitted from another portable terminal via the server 2 from a speaker of the terminal device 1.
[0037]
The data transmission unit 109 is a functional unit for transmitting data to the server 2, and is realized by a communication interface such as a wireless LAN, a wired LAN, a public telephone line, an infrared communication interface, and Bluetooth as hardware. I have.
[0038]
The data receiving unit 110 is a functional unit for receiving data from the server 2, and includes hardware such as a wireless LAN, a wired LAN, a public telephone line, an infrared communication interface, and Bluetooth similar to the data transmitting unit 109. Communication interface.
[0039]
FIG. 11 shows an example of a screen of the display device of the terminal device 1. In the screen of FIG. 11, a window area (My Face 1) is opened at the upper left, and the camera image input from the camera image input unit 104 is displayed via the camera image output unit 107. A character display window area (Private Msg masuzuki 1) therebelow is an area for displaying a one-to-one conversation message, and a character input window area (Hot Spot Chat) is further opened below it. In this character input area, characters input from the keyboard are displayed. Icons of up, down, left, and right arrows are displayed in the right part of the center of the screen. By specifying the arrow part with a mouse cursor using a mouse or the like, an image area (My Face 1) photographed by the user himself is displayed. You can move within the server screen.
[0040]
On the other hand, FIG. 12 shows a basic screen example of the display device of the server 2. On the display screen on the server side, an input image of the participant (terminal device) accessing the server 2 is displayed in each image region, and character information input from each terminal device is close to the image region. Is displayed.
[0041]
The server 2 has a data receiving unit 201 and a data transmitting unit 202 corresponding to the data transmitting unit 109 and the data receiving unit 110 of the terminal device 1. That is, the data receiving unit 201 of the server 2 is a functional unit that receives data transmitted from the terminal device 1, and the data transmitting unit 202 is a functional unit that transmits data to the terminal device 1.
[0042]
The image position control unit 203 is a functional unit that controls the position of an image based on image movement instruction information (coordinate change information) received from each terminal device 1 or the like. Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 8, this means that the input image position of the terminal device 1 is moved from the lower left position to the upper right position on the screen based on the movement instruction information received from the terminal device 1. As described above, this movement instruction information is performed by the user of the terminal device 1 while confirming the movement position on his or her own display screen with the icons of up, down, left and right arrows on the client screen. That is, the image movement control unit 101 of the terminal notifies the coordinate change information of the image to the image position control unit 203 of the server 2 as image movement instruction information, and the image position control unit 203 sends the coordinate change information to the relation control unit 208. Notice.
[0043]
The relation control unit 208 of the server 2 is a functional unit that refers to the inter-terminal relation data table 209. The inter-terminal relation data table 209 is provided with a user information table as shown in FIG. In this user information table, the user name, the XY coordinates of the image position, the height and width of the image, and the conference room hosting flag can be registered.
[0044]
The relation control unit 208 updates the contents of the inter-terminal relation data table 209, that is, the data of the image position XY coordinates and the image height / width based on the coordinate change information. Then, the relation control unit 208 notifies the image display control unit 204 of the coordinate change information.
[0045]
The image display control unit 204 rearranges the screen position and size of each terminal device on the screen based on the coordinate change information (see FIG. 8). The image information of the screen rearranged in this way is displayed on the large display panel of the server via the image display control unit 204. The image information of the screen may be transmitted to the terminal device 1 via the data transmission unit 202 and reflected on the display screen of the terminal device 1.
[0046]
On the other hand, the inter-terminal relation data table 209 has a closeness table as shown in FIG. 4 in addition to the user information table (FIG. 2). In the familiarity table, the familiarity of each user who operates the terminal device is registered in a ratio (maximum 100%). The higher the ratio of intimacy between users, the higher the numerical value. Here, the intimacy level is statistically determined by the relation control unit 208 of the server 2 based on the amount of data communication between the terminal devices of the user, for example, the number of conversation characters (the number of characters input to the other party in electronic communication). Can be calculated. In this case, the initial value is 0%. For example, if the user's terminal devices frequently communicate with each other using the character, voice, and image information via the server 2, control is performed so that the ratio gradually increases according to the amount of communication information. ing. FIG. 3 is a graph showing an example of the relationship between the amount of conversation characters and the intimacy level.
[0047]
In the case of FIG. 4, the closeness between B and C is high, the closeness from C to B is 85%, and the closeness from B to C is 70%. The reason that the numerical value differs between ABs in spite of mutual communication is that there are many electronic communications such as talking from Mr. C to Mr. B even though the intimacy is high, and Mr. B is a relatively passive electronic This is because they are communicating. The relation control unit 208 determines the communication amount such as voice information from the terminal device of Mr. C to the terminal device of Mr. B and the communication amount such as the voice information from the terminal device of Mr. B to the terminal device of Mr. C. Thus, different numerical values are calculated.
[0048]
The relation control unit 208 has a function of updating the user information table shown in FIG. 2 while referring to the intimacy table (FIG. 4) of the inter-terminal relation table 209. That is, when mutual communication is performed between the terminal device of Mr. C and the terminal device of Mr. B using moving image information, it is possible to determine that the familiarity between Mr. B and Mr. C is high based on the contents of the familiarity table. The user information table is updated so that both images are close to each other and a large area is secured on the screen.
[0049]
Since the intimacy level between B and C and the intimacy level between C and B are “(B → C: 70%) <(C → B: 85%)”, the relationship control is performed. The unit 208 and the image display control unit 204 may perform control so that the image from Mr. C to Mr. B is displayed larger than the image transmitted from Mr. B to Mr. C.
[0050]
The conference host control unit 205 is a functional unit that performs control for performing an electronic conference in association with a specific terminal device. The conference host group table shown in FIG. 5 is provided in the above-mentioned terminal relation table, and the host of the conference (the ID of the terminal device of the host) and the participants (the ID of the terminal device of the participant) are registered. It is supposed to be. The relation control unit 208 refers to the conference host group table and the above-mentioned user information table (FIG. 2) to determine which users (terminals) are participating in the conference and which conferences they are participating in (the conference attributes of the terminal devices). ) Can be recognized.
[0051]
First, the conference host control unit 205 refers to the personal information table (FIG. 2) and checks whether or not the terminal device has a conference room. Here, when the conference room hosting flag is set (when the conference room hosting in FIG. 2 is “present”), a circular conference centered on the input moving image from the terminal device is displayed on the screen. A room area is generated (see FIG. 9). Then, the conference host control unit 205 performs control to arrange an input image from a terminal device participating in the conference room in the circular conference room area.
[0052]
Note that the shape of the conference room area may be controlled so that the color gradually decreases as the distance from the center of the circle of the conference room area increases, as well as when the boundary is clearly defined as shown in FIG. Then, the conference room hosting control unit 205 refers to the intimacy table (FIG. 4) and refers to the terminal that participates in the conference room at a position of a color density proportional to the intimacy with the host (terminal device of the host). Images from the device may be arranged. In other words, the input image from the terminal device with high affinity with the meeting room organizer is placed in the central dark color portion, and the input image from the terminal device with low affinity with the conference room organizer is located in the light color portion near the periphery. You.
[0053]
In this way, the region is color-coded mainly on the organizer of the conference room, so that the organizer of the conference room can easily visually recognize the region and, depending on the arrangement position of the input image of another participant, the conference room. Of participants and the excitement of the conference room.
[0054]
The character display control unit 206 of the server 2 is a functional unit for displaying the character information received from the terminal device 1 on the screen of the display device. The audio output control unit 207 is a functional unit that performs control for outputting audio information received from the terminal device 1 from a speaker. The audio output control unit 207 performs a modulation process on the audio information in accordance with the intimacy level between the terminal devices with reference to the intimacy table (FIG. 4) and outputs the result. FIG. 7 is a graph showing the relationship between the intimacy and the modulation factor. As described above, the voice output control unit 207 causes the two terminal devices to output clear voice information when the degree of intimacy between the terminal apparatuses in conversation is high, and modulates the voice information when the degree of intimacy is low. The rate is lowered to output audio information with reduced sound quality.
[0055]
In the above description, the example in which the position of the image and the modulation rate of the audio information are changed according to the intimacy level between the terminal devices registered in the intimacy level table, but the control based on the intimacy level is limited to these. For example, the image display control unit 204 may perform a mosaic process on the input image according to the familiarity in the familiarity table and output the image on the screen of the display device as the input image. FIG. 6 shows the relationship between the degree of closeness and the degree of mosaic. In the same drawing, the degree of mosaic processing is illustrated for each of the cases where the intimacy level is 0%, 20%, 60% and 100%.
[0056]
[Others]
The processing in the above-described embodiment is provided as a computer-executable program, and can be provided via a recording medium such as a CD-ROM or a flexible disk, and further via a communication line.
[0057]
Although the embodiment has been described based on the present invention, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and is a concept including the following additional matters.
[0058]
(Supplementary Note 1) In a server that receives at least image, voice, or character input information from two or more terminal devices, and controls the input information to output it as communication information,
Means for receiving the input information;
A table that defines the relationship between the terminal devices,
Control means for generating output information by referring to the table for the received input information,
Output means for outputting the generated output information;
An electronic communication support server (1) comprising:
[0059]
(Supplementary note 2) The electronic communication support server (2) according to supplementary note 1, wherein the table is a table in which intimacy between the terminal devices is registered.
[0060]
(Supplementary Note 3) The control means is an image control means for controlling image quality of image information, and is provided to a display device of a server or a terminal device as the output means based on a degree of relationship between the terminal devices read from the table. The electronic communication support server according to claim 1, wherein the electronic communication support server changes image information to be output to the electronic communication support server.
[0061]
(Supplementary Note 4) The control means is a sound control means for controlling the sound quality or volume of the sound information, and the sound of the server or the terminal device which is the output means based on the degree of relation between the terminal devices read from the table. The electronic communication support server according to claim 1, wherein the electronic communication support server changes audio information output to the display device.
[0062]
(Supplementary Note 5) The control means is a screen control means for controlling a screen of a display device, and based on a degree of relationship between the terminal devices read from the table, a display device of a server or a terminal device as the output means. The electronic communication support server according to claim 1, wherein the display position of the output information for each terminal device to be output to the electronic communication support device is changed.
[0063]
(Supplementary Note 6) In the table, the attribute of the electronic conference can be registered, and the control unit is a screen control unit. The screen control unit registers the attribute of the electronic conference between the terminal devices read from the table. 2. The electronic communication support server according to claim 1, wherein the terminal devices that belong to the electronic conference are displayed on the screen of the display device so as to be distinguishable from other areas when the terminal device belongs to the electronic conference.
[0064]
Thereby, the electronic communication between the terminal devices belonging to the same electronic conference is performed on the screen of the display device as the output means, within the area defined by the same background color meaning the same electronic conference, the terminal of the participant. An input image area from a camera can be arranged for each device.
[0065]
(Supplementary Note 7) The screen control means changes the color of the area on the screen gradually from the center of the electronic conference toward the periphery thereof, and refers to the table to determine the degree of the relationship between the terminal devices. 7. The electronic communication support server according to claim 6, wherein the electronic communication support server performs control for arranging the input image of the terminal device.
[0066]
(Supplementary Note 8) In a server that receives at least image, voice, or character input information from two or more terminal devices, and controls the input information to output the input information as communication information,
Receiving the input information;
Reading the relationship between the terminal devices from a table;
Based on the read relationship between the terminal devices, processing input information from the terminal device to generate output information,
Outputting the generated output information;
Electronic communication support method provided with.
[0067]
(Supplementary Note 9) In a server that receives at least image, voice, or character input information from two or more terminal devices, and controls the input information to output it as communication information,
Receiving the input information;
Reading the relationship between the terminal devices from a table;
Based on the read relationship between the terminal devices, processing input information from the terminal device to generate output information,
Outputting the generated output information;
A computer-executable electronic communication support program comprising:
[0068]
(Supplementary Note 10) In a server that receives at least image, voice, or character input information from two or more terminal devices, and controls the input information to output it as communication information,
Receiving the input information;
Reading the relationship between the terminal devices from a table;
Based on the read relationship between the terminal devices, processing input information from the terminal device to generate output information,
Outputting the generated output information;
A computer-executable recording medium recording an electronic communication support program comprising:
[0069]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, in a system used for communication such as chat in which an unspecified number of people join in the Internet or in an ad hoc mode, the relationship between speakers is visually expressed so that it is smooth and usable. An easy-to-use communication system is realized.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a terminal device and a server.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing contents of a user information table in a terminal relation data table.
FIG. 3 is a graph showing the relationship between the number of conversation characters and intimacy.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing contents of an intimacy table.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the contents of a conference host group table.
FIG. 6 is a graph showing a relationship between intimacy and mosaic degree.
FIG. 7 is a graph showing the relationship between intimacy and the degree of voice modulation.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a movement state of an input image based on movement instruction information from a terminal device.
FIG. 9 is an example of a screen showing a state in which a conference host range is color-coded.
FIG. 10 is a graph showing the relationship between the intimacy level and the color of the conference host range.
FIG. 11 is a view showing an example of a screen of a terminal device.
FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a screen example of a server.
[Explanation of symbols]
1 Terminal device
101 Image movement control unit
102 Character input section
103 Conference host control unit
104 Camera image input unit
105 Microphone audio input section
106 Character output section
107 Camera image output unit
108 Microphone audio output section
109 Data transmission unit
110 Data receiving unit
2 server
201 Data receiving unit
202 Data transmission unit
203 Image position control unit
204 image display control unit
205 Conference host control unit
206 Character display control unit
207 Audio output control unit
208 Relational control unit
209 Terminal data table

Claims (5)

A server that receives at least image, voice, or character input information from two or more terminal devices and controls the input information to output it as communication information;
Means for receiving the input information;
A table defining a relationship between the terminal devices;
Control means for generating output information by referring to the table for the received input information;
Output means for outputting the generated output information;
Electronic communication support server equipped with. 2. The electronic communication support server according to claim 1, wherein the table is a table in which intimacy between the terminal devices is registered. The control unit is an image control unit that controls the image quality of image information, and outputs the image information to a server or a display device of the terminal device that is the output unit based on a degree of relationship between the terminal devices read from the table. 2. The electronic communication support server according to claim 1, wherein the electronic communication support server changes image information. The control unit is a voice control unit that controls the sound quality or volume of the voice information, and based on the degree of relationship between the terminal devices read from the table, the output unit is a server or a terminal device voice display device. 2. The electronic communication support server according to claim 1, wherein the audio information to be output is changed. The control means is a screen control means for controlling a screen of a display device, and outputs to a display device of the server or the terminal device as the output means based on a degree of relationship between the terminal devices read from the table. 2. The electronic communication support server according to claim 1, wherein a display position of the output information for each terminal device is changed.

Images