JP2008072249A - Communication apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication apparatus easily transmitting/receiving other data even during an electronic conference or talk. <P>SOLUTION: When an instruction section 13 instructs transmission of data stored in a storage section 12 while a communication apparatus 1 and a communication apparatus 2 perform communication via a data exchange network 3, a control section 15 allows a communication section 11 to establish a new communication connection and to use the new communication connection to transmit the instructed data to the communication apparatus 2. In this case, a coding section 14 codes the data to be transmitted using a coding system corresponding to the data, and transmits the data using a protocol corresponding to the data. In this way, even data of a format different from that of data under communication can be transmitted without any problem. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication apparatus that transmits and receives various information to and from the same counterpart communication apparatus through a network.

  Conventionally, it has become possible to transmit not only text but also various information such as moving images, sounds, and images through a network. An electronic conferencing system that can use such a network, for example, transfer the status of the conference to another location with video or audio, and participate in the conference even in a remote location will be developed and used It has become to. In a typical electronic conference system, cameras and microphones are installed at each venue, and video information captured by the cameras and audio information collected by the microphones are transferred between venues for communication among participants. A meeting is in progress. Similarly, a system called a videophone has been developed by transferring moving images to each other.

  There is a case where it is desired to transfer another data such as a document during such a meeting or call. In order to distribute materials to another venue in the conventional electronic conference system, materials files are sent in advance, or materials are photographed with a camera and transmitted separately as images. For example, in Patent Document 1, document materials necessary for a conference are transmitted prior to the conference.

  As another method, application software corresponding to data to be sent can be separately activated and used during an electronic conference or call. However, an application program must be selected in accordance with each data, and complicated operations such as activation and operation of each application program are required during a conference or call.

JP-A-5-300511

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a communication device that can easily transmit and receive other data even during an electronic conference or a telephone call.

  The present invention provides a communication device for communicating with an external communication device through a data exchange network, at least an instruction device for receiving instructions for selecting and operating data that can be transmitted, and communicating with the external communication device. And a control means for controlling the communication means so that a new communication connection is provided and the data is transmitted to the external communication device when the instruction means receives a data transmission instruction. is there.

  Further, it can be configured such that an instruction for selecting and operating data received from an external communication device in communication is received by the instruction means, and the selected data is operated according to the instruction received by the instruction means.

  The data to be transmitted includes voice, moving image, character or image, and a combination thereof. Data can be transmitted by a protocol according to the data to be transmitted. Further, the data can be encoded and transmitted by an encoding method corresponding to the data to be transmitted.

  According to the present invention, even when communicating with an external communication device, it is possible to transmit through another communication connection if a transmission instruction is given. For example, when you have an electronic conference with an external communication device or are talking on a so-called videophone, and when you are sending and receiving video and audio data in both directions, you need another data easily and Can be sent and received.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 and 2 are communication devices, 3 is a data exchange network, 11 is a communication unit, 12 is a storage unit, 13 is an instruction unit, 14 is an encoding unit, 15 is a control unit, and 16 is an interface. In FIG. 1, a communication device 1 and a communication device 2 are communicably connected via a data exchange network 3 such as a LAN or the Internet. Although the configuration of the communication device 1 is shown here, the communication device 2 and other devices on the data exchange network 3 may have the same configuration. In addition, the communication device 1 and the communication device 2 will be described as performing communication. Of course, the same applies to communication with other communication devices connected to the other data exchange network 3. Needless to say.

  In this example, the communication device 1 includes a communication unit 11, a storage unit 12, an instruction unit 13, an encoding unit 14, a control unit 15, an interface 16, and the like. The communication unit 11 communicates with another device, in this example, the communication device 2 through the data exchange network 3. Communication through the data exchange network 3 can be performed by providing a plurality of communication connections.

  The storage unit 12 can store various data in the communication device 1. Here, in particular, data that can be transmitted to other devices, data received from other devices, and the like can be stored.

  The instruction unit 13 receives various instructions from the user for the communication device 1. Here, at least an instruction for selection and operation of data that can be transmitted, and an instruction for selection and operation of data received from an external communication device in communication are accepted.

  The encoding unit 14 encodes data by an encoding method corresponding to the data to be transmitted and transmits the encoded data. Also, the received data is decrypted.

  The control unit 15 controls each unit of the communication device 1. In particular, when communication with another device is controlled through the communication unit 11 and other data is exchanged during the communication, a new TCP / IP communication connection is provided for the communication unit 11 to perform communication. Control to do. Data exchanged using another communication connection is arbitrary, such as voice, moving image, character or image, and a combination thereof, and data to be transmitted is input from data stored in the storage unit 12 or the interface 16. It may be data.

  In addition, the control unit 15 operates the data that can be transmitted or the received data according to the instruction given by the instruction unit 13. In particular, the selected transmittable data can be transmitted to another device according to the transmission instruction. At this time, the encoding unit 14 performs encoding by an encoding method corresponding to the data to be transmitted, and transmits a protocol according to the data to be transmitted by providing a new communication connection.

  For example, a camera, a microphone, or the like can be connected to the interface 16 to acquire moving image or audio data to be transmitted. In addition, a display device, a speaker, and the like are also connected to reproduce the received moving image or sound. Of course, other information devices may be connected to input / output data.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a communication sequence in an example of an operation according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are explanatory diagrams of an example of an output screen. In the figure, 21 is a moving image display area, 22 is an operation area, 23 is a received data display area, 24 is a transmittable data display area, 31 is a received moving image, 32 is a reproduced moving image, and 41 is a send button. Here, as a specific example, it is assumed that moving image data is transferred between the communication device 1 and the communication device 2 and other data is transmitted and received using another communication connection in the middle.

  In this example, a command requesting the start of a communication connection is transmitted from the communication device 1 to the communication device 2 in (51), and a command indicating that the command has been received from the communication device 2 is transmitted to the communication device 1 in (52). In return, the communication connection (TCP / IP communication connection) in the TCP layer is started as shown in (53). Of course, the communication device 2 may request the communication device 1 to start a communication connection.

  In the communication connection started here, as shown in (54), the communication apparatus 1 performs communication by encoding the audio and moving image data acquired through the interface 16 by the encoding unit 14 by the encoding unit 14 using a method such as MPEG4. Send to device 2. The communication device 2 decodes the received data and reproduces a moving image and audio. Similarly, encoded audio and moving image data is received from the communication device 2, decoded by the encoding unit 14, and output to a display device, a speaker, or the like through the interface 16.

  An example of the screen output at this time is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, and in particular, a display screen at the start of communication is shown in FIG. In the example shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, a moving image display area 21, an operation area 22, a received data display area 23, a transmittable data display area 24, and the like are provided in the screen. The moving image display area 21 reproduces the moving image data received by the communication sequence described above. In addition, the moving image display area 21 can also reproduce moving image data received using another communication connection as will be described later. For example, the moving image data received in (54) of FIG. 2 is reproduced in real time as indicated by the received moving image 31, and the separately received moving image data is also reproduced as indicated by the reproduced moving image 32 in FIG. 3 (B). be able to.

  In the operation area 22, buttons for performing various operations related to reproduction of moving image data are arranged. In this example, the "Play" button to start playing the video, the "Fast forward" button to fast forward the video, the "Rewind" button to return the video to play, the "Stop" button to stop playing the video, A “pause” button for temporarily pausing, a “file” button for saving moving image data as a file, and the like are provided. When the user operates these buttons, the instruction unit 13 receives the operation and controls the reproduction of the moving image according to the operation.

  The received data display area 23 displays various data received in units of data. For example, in FIGS. 3B and 4, the received data is displayed in a rectangle in the received data display area 23. Various operations can be performed on the data displayed in the reception data display area 23. For example, if it is moving image data, it can be reproduced and displayed as a reproduced moving image 32 in the moving image display area 21, and various operations shown in the operation area 22 can be performed. The same applies to audio data. In addition, operations such as display, editing, saving, and printing are possible for data such as images and text. Further, the received data can be moved to the transmittable data display area 24 to be transmittable data.

  In the transmittable data display area 24, for example, data stored in the storage unit 12, data stored in an external device that can be acquired through the interface 16, data that can be acquired from a device that is also connected to the interface 16 For data that can be transmitted, such as data (for example, data captured by another camera), each data is displayed in units. In FIGS. 3 and 4, each transmittable data is indicated by a rectangle. The sendable data display area 24 is provided with a send button 41. When the user selects data and operates the send button 41, the selected data can be sent to a communicating party. . At this time, as described above, the communication connection other than the communication connection in communication is used.

  A communication sequence for the above-described data transmission / reception is shown in FIG. First, a communication sequence when the communication device 1 receives data transmitted from the communication device 2 is shown. In (55), a command requesting the start of a communication connection for transferring data is sent from the communication device 2 to the communication device 1. The communication device 1 returns to the communication device 2 a command indicating that a command for requesting the start of communication connection has been received (56), whereby a new communication connection is established as shown in (57). In (58), the data is transmitted from the communication device 2, and the communication device 1 receives the data transmitted from the communication device 2, and the data is decoded by the encoding unit 14 or as it is in the storage unit 12 as a file. Remember. The existence of this file is displayed in the received data display area 23 (FIG. 3B). When the data transfer is completed, the communication connection is disconnected in (59).

  The communication sequence in the case of transferring data from the communication device 1 to the communication device 2 in communication is shown. For example, when the user selects data to be transmitted in the transmittable data display area 24 as indicated by an arrow in FIG. 4 and operates the transmission button 41, the communication sequence after (60) is executed. In (60), a command requesting the start of a communication connection for transferring data is sent from the communication device 1 to the communication device 2. The communication device 2 returns to the communication device 1 a command indicating that a command for requesting the start of communication connection has been received (61), whereby a new communication connection is established as shown in (62). Then, the data selected in the transmittable data display area 24 in FIG. 4 is encoded by the encoding unit 14 in a method corresponding to the data, and the data is expressed in (63) using a protocol corresponding to the data. Transfer from the communication device 1 to the communication device 2. For example, various encoding methods such as LHA, JPEG, G711, and MPEG2 can be used as the encoding method. Various protocols such as FTP, HTTP, SMTP, and SNMP can be used. These encoding methods and protocols can be used as appropriate according to the data. When the transfer is completed, the communication connection is disconnected at (64).

  In this way, other data can be exchanged with the communication device 2 in communication at (54). At this time, since communication is performed by providing another communication connection, communication can be performed using an encoding method or protocol corresponding to each data.

  For example, in an electronic conference or the like, video data captured by a camera and audio data collected by a microphone are transferred between the communication device 1 and the communication device 2 and reproduced by a display device and a speaker. As a result, discussions can proceed in real time. A request to exchange various materials on the way is assumed. In such a case, the data of the data is transmitted and received while the communication of the video data and audio data being transferred to each other is kept as it is. Therefore, in the present invention, another communication connection is provided, and the data of the material is transferred using the communication connection. The data of the material is not limited to text, but may be a document, image, video, or a combination of them in various data formats, using an encoding method and protocol corresponding to each data or data combination. Communication can be performed. Therefore, even during transfer of video and audio in electronic conferences, etc., various data can be transferred using an encoding method and protocol different from the encoding method and protocol used for transferring the video and audio data. Can be transferred. In this way, various data such as materials needed during the electronic conference can be transferred during the conference.

  For example, when voice data called IP phone is exchanged between the communication device 1 and the communication device 2, it is possible to transmit a document or an image or a moving image during a call. . In this case as well, while the audio data is being transferred, another communication connection is provided and used to transfer various data.

  In the above description, the communication device 1 and the communication device 2 perform one-to-one communication. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of communication devices and respective communication connections are used. Even when communication is performed, data can also be configured to be transferred collectively to the plurality of communication counterpart communication devices.

It is a block diagram which shows one Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of an example of the communication sequence in an example of operation | movement of one Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing of an example of an output screen. It is explanatory drawing (at the time of data transmission) of an example of an output screen.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1, 2 ... Communication apparatus, 3 ... Data exchange network, 11 ... Communication part, 12 ... Memory | storage part, 13 ... Instruction part, 14 ... Encoding part, 15 ... Control part, 16 ... Interface, 21 ... Movie display area, 22 ... operation area, 23 ... received data display area, 24 ... transmittable data display area, 31 ... received moving picture, 32 ... reproduced moving picture, 41 ... send button.

Claims (4)

  Communication means for communicating with an external communication device through a data exchange network, instruction means for receiving at least an instruction for selecting and operating data that can be transmitted, and transmission of data by the instruction means during communication with the external communication device A communication apparatus comprising a control means for controlling the communication means so as to provide a new communication connection and transmit the data to the external communication apparatus when receiving an instruction.   The instruction means receives an instruction to select and operate data received from the external communication device in communication, and the control means operates the selected data according to the instruction received by the instruction means. The communication device according to claim 1.   The data that is instructed to be transmitted by the instructing means is a voice, a moving image, a character or an image, and a combination thereof, and the communication means transmits the data according to a protocol corresponding to the data to be transmitted. Item 3. The communication device according to item 1 or item 2.   2. The encoding device according to claim 1, further comprising encoding means for encoding data, wherein the control means causes the encoding means to encode data by an encoding method corresponding to data to be transmitted. 4. The communication device according to any one of items 3.

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