JP2007174154A - Conference apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To obtain an inexpensive conference apparatus capable of delivering the image of a speaker by automatically directing a camera toward the speaker even with the use of the camera which does not include a means for obtaining horizontal and vertical absolute angle position information. <P>SOLUTION: The apparatus comprises a speaker identifying means; the camera 10 for continuously changing a photographing direction; a storage means 15 for previously storing position information of each speaker and photographing direction change speed information of the camera 10; and a control means 12 for acquiring the position information of the present speaker to be identified by the identifying means from the storage means 15, calculating a difference between the position information and the position information of the preceding speaker which is acquired from the storage means 15, and continuously changing the photographing direction of the camera for the portion of a time corresponding to the difference. The position information of each speaker is the information of the panning and tilting directions of the camera. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a conference apparatus that can pick up and expand a speaker's speech with a microphone and utter it from a speaker, and can display the speaker's video on a display. The present invention relates to a conference apparatus in which a camera can be pointed toward a speaker even if it is of a type that cannot be designated in advance.

  When a conference is held with a relatively large number of people, such as a public conference hall or a company meeting facility, the voice of the speaker is delivered to the attendees and the listeners, and the video of the speaker is displayed to the attendees and the listeners. For example, a conference apparatus that can pick up a speaker's speech with a microphone, amplify it with an amplifier and utter it from a speaker, and display a video of the speaker on a display is becoming widespread.

  A camera for a conference apparatus is generally placed at a position where a conference attendee can be looked over, and the shooting direction is moved by remote control. The movement of the camera includes a horizontal movement (hereinafter referred to as “pan”) and a vertical movement (hereinafter referred to as “tilt”). Some cameras have a zoom function so that the size of the speaker's image on the display can be adjusted.

  As a camera for a conference apparatus, there is a camera equipped with a preset function capable of previously storing an imaging position, that is, a seat position of each attendee in a memory. If a camera having a preset function is used, the camera can be automatically directed toward the speaker by simply inputting and storing, for example, the seat position number of each speaker. However, a camera with a preset function is generally expensive, and there is a limit to the number that can be preset, that is, the number of seats that can be preset. The number of presets can be increased by adding memory, but adding memory increases the cost.

  Even if the camera does not have a preset function, the position of each attendee's seat can be preset, a sufficient number of presets can be secured, and there is no dedicated person to remotely control the camera. However, if the camera can be pointed automatically toward the speaker, the above problem can be solved. Therefore, the present applicant includes a potentiometer on the camera side, and a camera remote control unit that receives angle information in the horizontal and vertical directions of the camera from the potentiometer and outputs an imaging direction instruction signal to the camera drive unit. When presetting the position of each microphone in the memory of the camera remote control unit, after aligning the camera with a preset reference angle position in the horizontal direction and vertical direction, image a specific microphone position, and The angle with respect to the reference angle position is stored in the memory as the specific microphone imaging angle, and thereafter the imaging angle is stored in the same manner for each microphone, and the camera is remotely controlled in this way by the preset microphone imaging angle. Remote control method of TV camera in conference facility Proposed (e.g., see Patent Document 1).

JP 2003-163828 A

Both the invention described in Patent Document 1 and the conventional general conference apparatus preset the absolute position of each speaker before the conference. The preset procedure is as follows.
(1) The direction of the camera is remotely controlled, and a camera is used to image a seat to be seated by a specific speaker, for example, the first speaker, or a microphone in the seat.
(2) An inquiry is made to the camera from a control means such as a personal computer, and the current position information is also acquired regarding the horizontal and vertical directions of the camera, and in some cases, the zoom position.
(3) The acquired camera position information is recorded on a recording medium such as a hard disk in association with the specific speaker.
During the meeting, the control means controls the camera so that the camera automatically faces the speaker by using the camera position information about each speaker recorded as described above. It is possible to determine which speaker is speaking by pressing a switch attached to a microphone arranged at each speaker's seat, or by outputting a microphone that captures the voice uttered by the speaker. . When a speaker is determined, the control unit controls the camera so that the camera faces the speaker based on the position information corresponding to the speaker.

  According to the invention described in Patent Document 1, it is possible to provide a conference device that can automatically point a camera toward a speaker using a low-cost camera without a dedicated remote operation specialist. . However, although the invention described in Patent Document 1 can use a low-cost camera, the absolute angular position information in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction of the camera is obtained by a potentiometer, and thus the cost is further increased. There is room for reduction. That is, there is a lower-cost camera that does not include an absolute angular position information acquisition unit and cannot directly specify a specific angular position. If remote control can be automatically performed using such a low-cost camera, it is possible to provide a lower-cost conference device, and it is also possible to incorporate a commercially available lower-cost camera into the conference device. It is.

  Therefore, the present invention can automatically turn the speaker and project the speaker even if the camera does not include the horizontal and vertical absolute angular position information acquisition means. An object of the present invention is to provide a conference apparatus capable of reducing the cost.

  The present invention includes a speaker identification unit, a camera capable of continuously changing a shooting direction, a storage unit capable of storing in advance position information of each speaker and shooting direction change speed information of the camera, The current speaker's position information identified by the identification means is acquired from the storage means, and the difference between this position information and the previous speaker's position information acquired from the storage means is calculated, and this difference is handled. And a control means for continuously changing the shooting direction of the camera for the amount of time.

  Since the shooting direction change speed of the camera is known in advance and stored in the storage means, the difference between the current speaker position information and the previous speaker position information is calculated, and the time corresponding to this difference is calculated. By continuously changing the shooting direction of the camera, the current speaker can be shot with the camera directed at the current speaker. Since the camera does not require a means for determining the absolute position for each position of the speaker, the conference apparatus can be configured even with a simple and low-cost camera.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the conference apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
1 and 2, reference numeral 10 indicates a camera installed in a conference hall, for example. The camera 10 has a zoom lens as the photographing lens 11, and is installed in a place where all the speaker seats in the conference hall can be looked over. The camera 10 is mounted on a suitable turntable and is rotationally driven in a horizontal direction by a driving device using a motor or the like as a driving source, so that the photographing direction can be continuously changed. This continuous change of the shooting direction in the horizontal direction is referred to as “pan”, and hereinafter referred to as “pan” in this specification. The camera 10 mounted on the turntable is also rotationally driven in the vertical direction by a driving device using a motor or the like as a driving source, so that the photographing direction can be continuously changed. This continuous change of the photographing direction in the vertical direction is referred to as “tilt”, and hereinafter referred to as “tilt” in this specification.

  Unlike a conventional conference camera, the camera 10 is a camera with a simple configuration that cannot grasp the absolute position in the pan direction and the absolute position in the tilt direction. However, in order to be able to grasp the current angular position information and the previous angular position information as a difference between the relative angular position information, for example, a potentiometer such as the invention described in Patent Document 1 is used. I have. A computer (for example, a personal computer (personal computer)) as control means for controlling the direction of the camera 10 in order to identify the speaker and point the camera toward the speaker while using the camera 10 having such a simple configuration Twelve. The computer 12 has a storage device 15. The storage device 15 is, for example, a hard disk device and may be built in the computer 12 or may be an external device.

  The storage device 15 stores in advance position information of each speaker and shooting direction change speed information of the camera 10. The procedure for acquiring and storing the location information of each speaker will be described in detail later. The shooting direction change speed information of the camera 10 includes shooting direction change speed information of the camera 10 in the pan direction per unit time (for example, 1 second). In addition to this, there is shooting direction change speed information in the tilt direction per unit time. It is measured in advance how many times the camera 10 changes its direction in the pan direction and the tilt direction per unit time, and the measured shooting direction change speed information is stored in the storage device 15. Further, in a camera with a zoom function, the zoom (magnification) speed per unit time is measured, and the measured zoom speed information is stored in the storage device 15.

  In the conference hall or conference facility, there is a table in front of the speaker's seat, and one microphone 17 is arranged for each speaker's seat on the table, or one microphone 17 is arranged for every two speakers. Has been. In the example shown in FIG. 2, each microphone 17 is attached to a microphone stand installed on a table. However, a flat microphone that is directly attached to a table top may be used as a boundary microphone. Each microphone 17 is provided with a switch 18 for turning it on / off. The switch 18 constitutes speaker identification means. When the speaker presses the switch 18 of the microphone 17 in front of the speaker, the microphone 17 is turned on, and a signal for identifying the speaker is transmitted to the computer 12. To be communicated to. The microphone 17 converts a speaker's speech into an audio signal and outputs it, and also outputs an on / off signal for the switch 18.

  As shown in FIG. 2, each of the signals output from the microphone 17 is converted into infrared information by an infrared light emitter and output. An infrared receiver 19 is installed on the ceiling of the conference facility and the like, and receives an infrared signal from the microphone 17. A signal from the microphone 17 received by the infrared receiver 19 is input to the computer 12 via the microphone controller 16. The computer 12 determines which microphone 17 is turned on, in other words, which speaker is speaking, by a signal input when the switch 18 is turned on. Even after the utterance is over, the speaker may forget to turn off the switch 18 of the corresponding microphone 17, and at the same time, the switches 18 of the plurality of microphones 17 may be turned on. The switch 18 may be given priority to determine the speaker. The audio signal converted by the microphone 17 and transmitted to the infrared light receiver 19 is amplified by an amplifier (not shown), and is emitted from a speaker (not shown) into the hall as the case may be and sometimes outside the hall.

  The speaker identification means may be based on the level of sound detected by the microphone 17 instead of the switch 18 installed in each microphone 17 as described above. The audio signal level converted by the microphone 17 in front of the speaker is higher than the audio signal level converted by the other microphones 17. Therefore, for example, it is determined that an attendant corresponding to the microphone 17 having a certain audio signal level or higher is speaking, and the camera 10 is directed toward the attendee. Also in this case, it is preferable to give priority to the microphone 17 in which the speech is detected last, and direct the camera 10 toward the attendee corresponding to the microphone 17.

  The speaker identification means may be a selection switch that is arranged on a central console corresponding to each microphone 17 and is selected and operated by the operator. The operator is at a position overlooking the conference hall, identifies the current speaker, and selects and operates the corresponding switch. The camera 10 is directed toward the microphone 17 corresponding to the selected switch, and an image of the speaker is taken.

  The image of the speaker imaged as described above can be displayed on the display of the computer 12, and can be displayed on a display device such as a display or projector of another computer connected to the computer 12. . If it is displayed on a display installed outside the conference hall and the voice is also output from the speaker, the state of the conference can be known by voice and video even outside the conference hall.

  Next, a procedure for acquiring and storing the position information of each speaker, that is, a procedure for presetting the position information of each speaker will be specifically described with reference to FIG. The steps representing each procedure are represented as S1, S2,. First, in S1, the shooting direction change speed of the camera 10 is measured, and the measured value is stored in the storage unit 15. As described above, since there are pan and tilt as the shooting direction, the angle change and the time required for each are measured, the angle change per unit time is calculated, and the pan direction change speed and the tilt direction change speed are calculated. Remember. When the camera 10 has a zoom function, zooming is measured in the same manner to calculate a change in the angle of view per unit time, and this is stored in the storage unit 15.

  Next, with the camera 10, a specific seat, for example, NO. A speaking seat of 1 is photographed (S2). This photographing may be performed by directly operating the camera 10 manually or by remote control while observing the display 12. At this time, the zoom position is also adjusted so that the speaker's image captured by the camera 10 has a desired size. In this imaging mode, the computer 12 requests the camera 12 to acquire pan direction angle information, tilt direction angle information, and zoom position information (S3). In response to this request, the above-mentioned speaking seat NO. 1 pan, tilt, and zoom information is output, and the computer 12 acquires the information and stores it in the storage means 15 (S4).

  Next, speaking seat NO. 2 is performed in the same manner as steps S2 to S4 above (S5 to S7). Thereafter, the panning, tilting, and zooming position information is acquired by the computer 12 through the same steps for all speaking seats, and the storage means 15 (S11-S13). In this way, pan, tilt, and zoom position information is preset for all speaking seats. The concept of preset here is not an absolute position preset but a relative position difference with respect to one preset position. This will be described with reference to FIG. Now, assume that the camera 10 is rotated about the rotation axis in the pan direction and is directed to a specific speaking seat A. The pan direction of the camera 10 at this time is acquired as an appropriate reference angular position, for example, angular position information with respect to the Y axis, and stored in the storage unit 15. Next, the camera 10 is directed to another speaking seat B, and the panning direction of the camera 10 at this time is set as an appropriate reference angular position, for example, angular position information with respect to the Y axis, or an angle with respect to the speaking seat A that has already been acquired. Obtained as position information and stored in the storage means 15. In this way, all the voice seats are acquired and stored as relative angular position information.

  Next, the operation during the meeting will be described with reference to FIG. The following operations are performed under the control of the computer 12. First, it waits whether there is a statement (S20), and when there is a statement, it detects which attendee is speaking (S21). As described above, whether or not there is a speech and which attendee is speaking can be detected based on whether or not the switch 18 attached to each microphone 17 is turned on, or the audio signal level is determined. It can be detected by the microphone 17 having a predetermined level or more. Furthermore, the selection operation switch can be selected manually.

  A camera position information acquisition request corresponding to the speaker specified in the speaker detection step (S21) is issued (S22). In response to this request, camera position information corresponding to the speaker is acquired, and the storage means 15 (S23). The camera position information is the aforementioned pan direction angle, tilt direction angle, and zoom position information. Since the position information corresponding to the previous speaker is also stored in the storage means, the difference between the position information corresponding to the current speaker and the position information corresponding to the previous speaker is calculated (S24). The difference in position information is calculated for each of the pan direction, tilt direction, and zoom position. Regarding the difference between the pan direction, the tilt direction, and the zoom position, the shooting direction of the camera is controlled in such a direction that the difference disappears for the time corresponding to each difference (S25).

  Here, the case where the speaker changes from A to B will be described with reference to FIGS. As shown in FIG. 1, assuming that the difference in position information in the pan direction from A to B is PD, the shooting direction of the camera is controlled in such a direction that the difference disappears for the time corresponding to the difference PD. The camera shooting direction change speed in the pan direction per unit time is measured in advance and the information is saved, so the camera shooting direction is continuously changed to the left and right for the above time at the above shooting direction change speed. By doing so, the camera 10 can be directed to the speaker B.

  The tilt direction is similarly controlled. As shown in FIG. 2, if the difference in position information in the tilt direction from A to B is TD, the shooting direction of the camera is controlled in such a direction that the difference disappears for the time corresponding to the difference TD. Since the camera shooting direction change speed in the tilt direction per unit time is measured in advance and the information is stored, the camera shooting direction is continuously changed up and down for the above time at the above shooting direction change speed. By doing so, the direction of the camera 10 can be directed to the speaker B.

  The above operation is the same for zoom. When the speaker changes from A to B, the difference between the zoom position with respect to A and the zoom position with respect to B is calculated, and the zoom position with respect to B is set at a pre-stored zoom speed. The time required to reach is calculated, and a zoom-required drive source such as a motor is driven for the calculated time.

  In this way, the present invention calculates the difference between the camera position corresponding to the previous speaker and the camera position corresponding to the current speaker, and drives the drive source for the time corresponding to this difference to speak the camera. In addition, by zooming corresponding to the difference between the distance from the camera to the previous speaker and the distance from the camera to the current speaker, the image of the speaker on the display is appropriate. It was made to become a size. In other words, the camera position and zoom are controlled by the relative difference between the previous time and the current time. Therefore, for each speaker, even a simple and low-cost camera can be used as a conference device camera as compared to a conventional conference device that controls the camera position and zoom position as absolute values. became.

  In the case of performing relative position control as in the present invention, it is conceivable that the camera does not accurately face the speaker due to aging of the camera mechanism. Therefore, for example, at the time of maintenance once a year, fine adjustment of the camera direction with respect to each speaker's seat, calibration of the moving speed of the camera, and the like may be performed.

It is the top view which looked at the Example of the conference apparatus concerning this invention from the movement plane corresponding | compatible direction of the pan direction. It is the side view which looked at the said Example from the movement plane corresponding | compatible direction of the tilt direction. It is a flowchart which shows the example of the preset operation | movement procedure of camera information in the said Example. It is a flowchart which shows the example of the operation | movement procedure during a meeting in the said Example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Camera 12 Computer as control means 15 Memory | storage means 17 Microphone 18 Switch

Claims (8)

A means of identifying the speaker,
A camera capable of continuously changing the shooting direction;
Storage means capable of storing in advance the position information of each speaker and the shooting direction change speed information of the camera;
The position information of the current speaker identified by the identification means is acquired from the storage means, and the difference between the position information and the position information of the previous speaker acquired from the storage means is calculated. Control means for continuously changing the shooting direction of the camera for a corresponding time.   The conference apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the position information of each speaker is information in a camera pan direction.   The conference apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the position information of each speaker is information on a pan direction and a tilt direction of the camera.   4. The conference apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the position information of each speaker includes zoom information of the camera.   The conference device according to claim 1, wherein the identification unit is a switch provided in each microphone arranged corresponding to each speaker.   The conference apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identifying means identifies the level of sound detected by each microphone arranged in correspondence with each speaker.   The conference apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identification unit is a selection switch that is arranged corresponding to each microphone and is selectively operated by an operator. 2. The conference apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control means is a computer, and the storage means is a storage device provided in the computer.

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