JP2008108117A - Communication terminal and communication session establishing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique which enables a user to easily recognize the progress condition of communication session establishing processing when establishing communication sessions between a plurality of communication terminals. <P>SOLUTION: A list showing the sequence of establishing processing for dividing communication sessions between a plurality of communication terminals 10 into a plurality of stages (phases) and establishing them in order and sound data representing sounds are stored in a storage part 12 of a communication terminal 10. A control part 11 of the communication terminal 10 determines whether a communication terminal 10 representative in a current phase is the communication terminal itself or not and outputs sound data stored in itself to a speaker 18 in the case that it is the communication terminal itself, and outputs sound data distributed from the communication terminal 10 representative in the current phase by streaming, to the speaker 18 in the other case. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for establishing and communicating with a communication session between a plurality of communication terminals.

In recent years, a remote conference system that performs a conference using a plurality of communication terminals connected via a communication network has become widespread. In this type of teleconferencing system, each communication terminal needs to transmit information such as video and audio to all other terminals at the same time, so a communication session is established with each of all other communication terminals. It is necessary to establish in advance. In this case, the user of the communication terminal needs to perform operations such as input and selection of the communication address of the partner terminal that establishes the communication session, and these operations are often troublesome for the user. In particular, the greater the number of partner terminals to be connected, the more complicated the operation that the user should perform. Thus, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that can automatically connect a plurality of communication terminals or check the connection of a line in a remote conference system.
JP-A-60-208124

  By the way, when establishing a communication session between a plurality of communication terminals, the communication session may not be established due to various reasons such as a problem on the communication network. In the conventional teleconference system, even if a communication session is not established, the user cannot easily recognize it. In particular, when establishing a communication session with a large number of communication terminals, the user determines which communication terminal has been successfully established and which communication terminal has failed to establish the communication session. It was difficult to recognize. Moreover, the user who should participate in a meeting may not be aware of the start of the meeting because the user has forgotten the meeting time.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described background, and in the case where a communication session is established between a plurality of communication terminals, a technique by which a user can easily grasp the progress of the communication session establishment process. The purpose is to provide.

  A communication terminal which is a preferred aspect of the present invention is order information indicating the order of establishment processing for establishing a communication session between a plurality of communication terminals in a plurality of stages in order, Order information storage means for storing order information including representative terminal information indicating the communication terminal and the establishment destination information indicating the communication terminal to which the communication session is established at each stage; and sound data for storing sound data representing sound Storage means, stage information receiving means for receiving stage information indicating each stage for establishing a communication session between a plurality of communication terminals in a plurality of stages in order, and receiving the stage information Step determination means for determining whether or not the representative communication terminal is the terminal at the step indicated by the step information received by the means, and the determination result by the step determination means is positive. If it is appropriate, the establishment destination information corresponding to the stage information received by the stage information receiving means is read from the order information storage means, and a communication session is established with the communication terminal indicated by the read establishment destination information. A communication session establishing means for performing processing for the communication terminal, and using the communication session established by the communication session establishing means, to the communication terminal indicated by the establishment destination information corresponding to the stage information received by the stage information receiving means, If the determination result by the step determination means is affirmative when the sound data transmission means for transmitting the sound data stored in the sound data storage means, the sound data reception means for receiving sound data from another terminal, and the step determination means, While the sound data stored in the sound data storage means is output to the sound emission means, otherwise it is received by the sound data receiving means. Sound data output means for outputting sound data received from a communication terminal indicated by representative terminal information corresponding to the stage information received by the stage information receiving means to the sound emitting means, and the communication session establishing means Stage information transmitting means for transmitting stage information indicating the next stage of the stage indicated by the stage information received by the stage information receiving means to another terminal when a communication session is established by .

  In this aspect, when the signal is input to the input receiving unit that receives the input of the signal and the input receiving unit, the establishment destination information corresponding to a predetermined stage is read from the order information storage unit and read. Using a second communication session establishing means for performing processing for establishing a communication session with the communication terminal indicated by the establishment destination information, and using the communication session established by the second communication session establishing means, Second sound data transmission means for transmitting sound data stored in the sound data storage means to a communication terminal indicated by establishment destination information corresponding to a predetermined stage, wherein the sound data output means is the step Sound data stored in the sound data storage means when the determination result by the determination means is affirmative or when the signal is input to the input reception means While outputting to the sound emitting means, otherwise, communication indicated by representative terminal information corresponding to the stage information received by the stage information receiving means, which is sound data received by the sound data receiving means Outputting sound data received from the terminal to the sound emitting means, and indicating a step next to the step indicated by the predetermined step information when a communication session is established by the second communication session establishing means You may provide the 2nd step information transmission means which transmits information to another terminal.

  Further, in the above-described aspect, the sound data transmitting unit transmits the sound data generated by performing the encoding process on the sound data stored in the sound data storage unit to generate sound data for real-time transmission, Based on the processing status of the transmission processing of the sound data transmitting means, the congestion status determining means for determining the congestion status of the previous communication network, and the encoding of the sound data transmitting means based on the determination result by the congestion status determining means Bit rate adjusting means for adjusting the bit rate in processing may be provided.

  Further, the communication session establishment method according to a preferred aspect of the present invention is order information indicating the order of establishment processes for establishing a communication session between a plurality of communication terminals in a plurality of stages in order, Order information storage means for storing order information including representative terminal information indicating a communication terminal as a representative in a stage and establishment destination information indicating a communication terminal as a destination of establishment of a communication session in each stage, and sound data representing sound A communication session establishment method using a system having a plurality of communication terminals including sound data storage means for storing different sound data in each of the plurality of communication terminals, wherein the first communication terminal includes a plurality of communication terminals. A first step of receiving, via a communication network, stage information indicating each stage for establishing a communication session between communication terminals in a plurality of stages in order; The first communication terminal determines whether the representative communication terminal is its own terminal at the stage indicated by the received stage information, and corresponds to the stage information when the determination result is affirmative The establishment destination information to be read from the order information storage means, processing for establishing a communication session with the communication terminal indicated by the read establishment destination information is performed, and the sound data storage means is established using the established communication session A second step of transmitting the sound data stored in the sound data, a third step in which the first communication terminal outputs the sound data stored in the sound data storage means to the sound emitting means, A fourth step in which the communication terminal receives the sound data from the first communication terminal; a fifth step in which the second communication terminal outputs the received sound data to the sound emitting means; and The first communication terminal is a communication session When the establishment process of down has been completed, the step information representing the steps of the step indicated by the received phase information, and having a sixth step of transmitting to another terminal.

  According to the present invention, when establishing a communication session between a plurality of communication terminals, the user can easily grasp the progress of the communication session establishment process.

<Configuration>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a remote conference system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The remote conference system 1 is configured by connecting a plurality of communication terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D installed in various places to a communication network 20 such as the Internet. The remote conference system 1 performs communication by establishing a communication session in a plurality of stages and sequentially establishing communication between a plurality of communication terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D. In the example shown in FIG. 1, four communication terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D are illustrated, but the number of communication terminals connected to the remote conference system 1 is not limited to four. More or less may be used. In the following description, for convenience of description, when it is not necessary to distinguish the communication terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D, they will be referred to as “communication terminal 10”.

  Each communication terminal 10 establishes a mesh-type communication session with another communication terminal 10 and transmits voice data indicating the voice of the user of the own device through each communication session. The remote conference is realized by receiving the voice data transmitted through the terminal and synthesizing and reproducing the voice corresponding to each voice data. More specifically, each communication terminal 10 transmits a communication message having a predetermined message format to the communication address of the counterpart device, thereby requesting establishment of a communication session for the counterpart device, permission for establishment of the communication session, etc. Process. Hereinafter, a communication message for requesting establishment of a communication session to the partner apparatus is referred to as an “establishment request message”.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the communication terminal 10. In the figure, the control unit 11 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), and a RAM (Random Access Memory), and reads and executes a computer program stored in the ROM or the storage unit 12. Control each unit of the communication terminal 10 via the bus BUS. The storage unit 12 is a storage unit for storing a program executed by the control unit 11 and data used at the time of execution, and is, for example, a hard disk device. The display unit 13 includes a liquid crystal display panel and the like, and displays various images under the control of the control unit 11. The operation unit 14 outputs an operation signal corresponding to the operation by the user to the control unit 11. The communication unit 15 is a communication unit for performing communication between the communication terminals 10 via the communication network 20, and is wired to the communication network 20. The communication unit 15 sends communication messages and voice data delivered from the control unit 11 to the communication network 20, and receives communication messages and voice data transmitted from the communication network 20 and delivers them to the control unit 11. is there. In this embodiment, the case where the communication unit 15 is wired to the communication network 20 will be described. However, it is needless to say that the communication unit 15 may be a wireless communication unit that performs wireless communication with the communication network 20. The microphone 16 collects the voice uttered by the person participating in the conference and outputs a voice signal (analog signal) representing the collected voice. The audio processing unit 17 converts an audio signal (analog signal) output from the microphone 16 into digital data and outputs the digital data to the control unit 11. The speaker 18 is a sound emitting unit that emits sound with an intensity corresponding to the sound signal that is converted from digital data to an analog signal and output by the sound processing unit 17. The time measuring unit 19 is a time measuring means for measuring time, and outputs a signal indicating that to the control unit 11 at a predetermined time.

  In this embodiment, the case where the microphone 16 and the speaker 18 are included in the communication terminal 10 will be described. However, the audio processing unit 17 is provided with an input terminal and an output terminal, and the input terminal is connected to the input terminal via an audio cable. An external microphone may be connected, and of course, an external speaker may be connected to the output terminal via an audio cable. In the present embodiment, a case where the audio signal input from the microphone 16 to the audio processing unit 17 and the audio signal output from the audio processing unit 17 to the speaker 18 are analog audio signals will be described. Of course, input / output may be performed. In such a case, the audio processing unit 17 does not need to perform A / D conversion or D / A conversion.

The storage unit 12 includes a list storage area 121 and a sound data storage area 122 as illustrated. In the list storage area 121, a list configured by arranging terminal information for identifying the communication terminals 10 is stored in association with a conference ID for identifying a conference. This list is order information indicating the order of establishment processes for establishing communication sessions between a plurality of communication terminals 10 in a plurality of stages in order, and is representative of communication terminals 10 that are representative in each stage. This is order information including terminal information and establishment destination information indicating the communication terminal 10 that is the establishment destination of a communication session at each stage.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the contents of the list stored in the list storage area 121. In this embodiment, the terminal IDs of the communication terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D are described as “10A”, “10B”, “10C”, and “10D”, respectively. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the list is configured by arranging terminal IDs in the order of communication terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D, as shown. In this embodiment, a communication session between the communication terminals 10 is established in the order of this list. More specifically, first, the communication terminal 10A transmits an establishment request message for establishing a communication session with the communication terminals 10B, 10C, and 10D to the communication terminals 10B, 10C, and 10D. A communication session is established with 10D. Next, the communication terminal 10B transmits an establishment request message to the communication terminals 10C and 10D, and establishes a communication session with the communication terminals 10C and 10D. Next, the communication terminal 10C transmits an establishment request message to the communication terminal 10D, and establishes a communication session with the terminal 10D. Thereby, a communication session in a mesh form is established between the communication terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D.

In the following description, for convenience of explanation, the stage in which the communication terminal 10A transmits the establishment request message to establish the communication session is referred to as “phase 1”, and similarly, the communication sessions 10B, 10C, and 10D transmit the establishment request message. The steps for establishing a communication session are described as “phase 2”, “phase 3”, and “phase 4”, respectively. Further, in the following description, for convenience of explanation, a communication terminal 10 that transmits an establishment request message to another terminal at that stage, that is, a communication terminal 10 that performs a process for triggering a communication session establishment process is referred to as a “master terminal”. Call it.
The list illustrated in FIG. 3 includes terminal IDs (representatives) indicating the communication terminals 10 (communication terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D) that are representative in the respective stages of “phase 1” to “phase 4”. Terminal information) and the establishment destination information indicating the communication terminal 10 that is the establishment destination of the communication session at each stage (“10B”, “10C”, “10D”, and “phase 2” in the “phase 1” stage 10C "," 10D ", ...).

  Sound data representing sound is stored in the sound data storage area 122 of the storage unit 12. In this embodiment, the sound data storage area 121 of the communication terminal 10A stores sound data representing drum performance sounds, and the sound data storage area 122 of the communication terminal 10B stores drum and bass performance sounds. Sound data to be represented is stored. The sound data storage area 121 of the communication terminal 10C stores sound data representing the performance sound of the drum, bass and guitar, and the sound data storage area 121 of the communication terminal 10D stores the performance sound of the drum, bass and guitar. In addition, sound data representing vocal singing voice is stored.

<Operation of Embodiment>
First, before explaining the processing flow of each communication terminal 10, an example of the overall operation of the remote conference system 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the entire operation of the remote conference system 1, and FIG. 5 is a diagram schematically showing processing steps of establishing a communication session of the remote conference system 1. In this operation example, a case where a mesh-type communication session is established between the communication terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D illustrated in FIG. 1 will be described. In the following description, for convenience of description, the sound data stored in the sound data storage areas 122 of the communication terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D are represented by “sound data MA” and “sound data MB”, respectively. , “Sound data MC” and “sound data MD”.
First, at a predetermined time (for example, 5 minutes before the start of the conference, etc.), the control unit 11 of the communication terminal 10A arranged at the top of the list, based on the signal output from the time measuring unit 19, An establishment request message indicating a communication session establishment request is transmitted to the other communication terminals 10B, 10C, and 10D (r1, r2, and r3), and processing for establishing the communication session is performed. Each of the communication terminals 10B, 10C, and 10D performs a process for establishing a communication session in accordance with the transmitted establishment request message. Note that the communication session establishment process is the same as the process performed by a general communication terminal, and thus detailed description thereof is omitted here.
Thereby, as shown to Fig.5 (a), a communication session is established between 10 A of communication terminals, and each of communication terminal 10B, 10C, 10D.

At this time, the communication terminal 10 </ b> A supplies the sound data MA stored in the terminal itself to the speaker 18 via the sound processing unit 17 and emits sound from the speaker 18. Further, the communication terminal 10A starts streaming distribution of the sound data MA stored in the own terminal to the other communication terminals 10B, 10C, and 10D via the established communication session (r4, r6, r8). Each of the communication terminals 10B, 10C, and 10D supplies the sound data stream-distributed from the communication terminal 10A to the speaker 18 via the sound processing unit 17, and emits the sound from the speaker 18.
At this time, each of the communication terminals 10B, 10C, and 10D performs streaming distribution of the sound data MB, MC, and MD stored in the own terminal to the communication terminal 10A via the established communication session (r5, r7). , R9). As a result, the sound data MB, MC, and MD are streamed to the communication terminal 10A, but the communication terminal 10A is not the sound data to be streamed but the sound data MA stored in its own terminal. Sounds according to the sound.

  Thus, in the “phase 1” stage, sounds corresponding to the sound data MA stored in the communication terminal 10A are emitted from all the communication terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D. When the sound data MA is streamed from the communication terminal 10A, the sound represented by the sound data MA is emitted from all the communication terminals 10, so that the participants in the conference near the communication terminal 10 can perform the communication session. It can be recognized that the progress of the establishment process is “Phase 1”.

  When the communication terminal 10A completes the communication session establishment process with the other communication terminals 10 (communication terminals 10B, 10C, 10D), the stage information indicating the next stage (phase 2) of the current stage (phase 1) It transmits to other communication terminals 10B, 10C, and 10D (r10, r11, r12). The communication terminals 10B, 10C, and 10D receive the stage information transmitted from the communication terminal 10A, and recognize that it has shifted to “Phase 2”. At this time, the communication terminals 10A and 10B emit sound by crossfading the sound represented by the sound data MA and the sound represented by the sound data MB.

Next, an operation example in the case of shifting to “Phase 2” will be described. Upon receiving the stage information from the communication terminal 10A, the communication terminal 10B transmits an establishment request message for establishing a communication session to the communication terminals 10C and 10D (r21, r22), and establishes the communication session. Process. Each of the communication terminals 10C and 10D performs a process for establishing a communication session with the communication terminal 10B based on the establishment request message received from the communication terminal 10B.
Thereby, as shown in FIG.5 (b), a communication session is established between each of the communication terminal 10B and the communication terminals 10C and 10D.

The communication terminal 10 </ b> B supplies sound data stored in its own terminal to the speaker 18 via the sound processing unit 17 and emits sound from the speaker 18. In addition, the communication terminal 10B performs streaming distribution of the sound data MB stored in the own terminal to the other communication terminals 10C and 10D via the established communication session (r23, r25). At this time, each of the communication terminals 10A, 10C, and 10D supplies the sound data MB stream-distributed from the communication terminal 10B to the speaker 18 through the audio processing unit 17 and emits the sound from the speaker 18.
At this time, the communication terminals 10C and 10D respectively stream the sound data MC and MD stored in the own terminal to the communication terminal 10B via the established communication session (r24 and r26). Thereby, all the other communication terminals 10 (communication terminals 10A, 10C, and 10D) are streamed to the communication terminal 10B. However, the communication terminal 10B is not a song to be streamed, but the terminal itself A sound corresponding to the sound data MB stored in is released.

  Thus, in the “phase 2” stage, the sound represented by the sound data MB stored in the communication terminal 10B is emitted from all the communication terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D. When the sound data MB is stream-distributed from the communication terminal 10B, the sound represented by the sound data MB is emitted from all the communication terminals 10, so that the participants in the conference near the communication terminal 10 can perform the communication session. It can be recognized that the progress of the establishment process is “Phase 2”.

  When the communication terminal 10B completes establishment of the communication session with the two communication terminals 10 (communication terminal 10C and communication terminal 10D), the communication terminal 10B displays the stage information indicating that the process proceeds to the next stage (phase 3). It transmits to 10A, 10C, 10D (r27, r28, r29). Thereby, the communication terminals 10A, 10C, and 10D recognize that the phase shifts to “phase 3”. At this time, the communication terminal 10A, the communication terminal 10B, and the communication terminal 10C cause the sound represented by the sound data MB and the sound represented by the sound data MC to crossfade and emit sound.

  Next, an operation example in the case of shifting to “Phase 3” will be described. The communication terminal 10C transmits an establishment request message to the communication terminal 10D (r31), and performs processing for establishing a communication session. Thereby, as shown in FIG.5 (c), a communication session is established between 10 C of communication terminals, and 10D of communication terminals. When the communication session is established, the communication terminal 10C performs streaming distribution of the sound data MC to the communication terminal 10D (r32). In addition, the communication terminal 10D performs streaming distribution of the sound data MD to the communication terminal 10C (r33).

  When the communication terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D emit a sound corresponding to the sound data MC that is stream-distributed from the communication terminal 10C, the participant of the remote conference system 1 advances the communication session establishment process. Can be recognized as “Phase 3”.

  When the communication terminal 10C finishes the session establishment process with the communication terminal 10D, the communication terminal 10C transmits to the other communication terminals 10A, 10B, and 10C stage information indicating that the process proceeds to the next phase (phase 4) ( r34, r35, r36). By receiving the stage information from the communication terminal 10C, the communication terminals 10A, 10B, and 10D recognize that the process proceeds to the next phase.

  Next, an operation example in the case of shifting to “Phase 4” will be described. In the “phase 4” stage, as shown in FIG. 5D, a mesh-type communication session is established between all the communication terminals 10 included in the remote conference system 1. When the stage information is received from the communication terminal 10C, the communication terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D respectively emit the sound represented by the sound data MC and the sound represented by the sound data MD by crossfading. Then, the communication terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D stand by until the conference start time in a state where the sound represented by the sound data MD is emitted.

At the start time of the conference, the communication terminal 10D receives information indicating that it is the start time of the conference, that is, step information indicating that the phase shifts to the next step of “Phase 4”, to the other communication terminals 10A, 10B, 10C. Respectively (r41, r42, r43). When the meeting start time comes, the communication terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D let the user know that it is the meeting start time by mixing and releasing sound data distributed from all the communication terminals 10. Inform. In this operation example, the communication terminals 10A, 10B, 10C, and 10D mix all the sound data MA, MB, MC, and MD, supply them to the speaker 18 via the audio processing unit 17, and release them as sound from the speaker 18. Let it sound.
The above is the description of the operation example of the remote conference system 1.

Next, the flow of communication session establishment processing performed by each communication terminal 10 will be described below with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.
When executing the processing shown in FIG. 6, the control unit 11 uses “current phase number nf”, “list pointer nl”, “in charge phase number Nfn”, and “total phase number Nfall” as variables. The “current phase number nf” is information indicating the stage at that time of the communication session establishment process of the remote conference system 1. The “list pointer nl” is information indicating one of the communication terminals 10 included in the list stored in the list storage area 121. The “in-charge phase number Nfn” is information indicating a phase in charge of the own communication terminal 10. “Total number of phases Nfall” is information indicating the total number of phases.
In the following description, for convenience of description, the process for establishing a communication session is simply referred to as “connection process”.

  First, the control unit 11 of the communication terminal 10 determines whether or not it is a predetermined process start time (for example, 5 minutes before the conference start time), and when it is determined that it is not the process start time. Wait until the processing start time. This determination is made based on whether or not a signal indicating that it is the processing start time is supplied from the timer unit 19. That is, the control unit 11 functions as an input receiving unit that receives an input of a signal from the time measuring unit 19. Here, when a signal is input from the time measuring unit 19 to the control unit 11, that is, when it is the processing start time (step S <b> 1), the control unit 11 first sets “current phase number nf” to “1”. An initialization process is performed (step S2). That is, in this embodiment, the stage information indicating “Phase 1” is used as the predetermined stage information. Next, the control unit 11 reads out a list corresponding to the conference from the list storage area 121, refers to the list, identifies its own responsible phase, and stores “dedicated phase number Nfn” indicating the identified responsible phase in the RAM. (Step S3).

  Next, the control unit 11 determines whether or not the “in-charge phase number Nfn” is “1” (step S4). When the “in-charge phase number Nfn” is “1”, the current phase (hereinafter referred to as “the current phase”) is the phase in charge of the communication terminal 10. When the “in-charge phase number Nfn” is “1” (step S4; YES), the control unit 11 causes the speaker 18 to emit sound (current phase music) represented by the sound data corresponding to the current phase. That is, the control unit 11 reads out sound data from the sound data storage area 122 and supplies it to the sound processing unit 17. The sound processing unit 17 converts the sound data supplied from the control unit 11 from digital data to an analog signal, supplies the converted signal to the speaker 18, and causes the speaker 18 to emit sound as a sound (step S5).

Next, the control unit 11 sets the value of “list pointer nl” to a value obtained by adding 1 to “current phase number nf” (step S6). Specifically, for example, when the “current phase number nf” is “1”, the value of the “list pointer nl” is “2”.
The control unit 11 repeatedly performs the processing from step S7 to step S12, thereby performing processing for establishing a communication session with the communication terminal 10 indicated by the “list pointer nl”. nl "is sequentially shifted to the end of the list. Thereby, the control part 11 establishes a communication session between all the communication terminals 10 arrange | positioned behind the own terminal in a list | wrist.
Specifically, the control unit 11 determines whether “list pointer nl” is larger than “total number of phases Nfall”, that is, whether “list pointer nl” has moved to the end of the list (step S7). ). When the determination result is negative (step S7; NO), the control unit 11 performs a connection process (a process for establishing a communication session) on the communication terminal 10 indicated by “list pointer nl”. Perform (step S8). That is, the control unit 11 refers to the list storage area 121 and communicates with the communication terminal 10 (communication terminal 10 indicated by “list pointer nl”) indicated by the establishment destination information corresponding to “current phase number nf”. In order to establish a communication session. Next, the control unit 11 uses the communication session established in step S8 to indicate the communication terminal 10 indicated by the establishment destination information corresponding to the “current phase number nf” (the communication terminal 10 indicated by the “list pointer nl”). The sound data stored in the sound data storage area 122 is transmitted to (step S9). At this time, the control unit 11 performs encoding processing on the sound data to generate sound data for real-time transmission, and distributes the generated sound data by streaming.

  Next, the control unit 11 performs bit rate adjustment processing by confirming the communication status of streaming delivery (step S10). More specifically, the control unit 11 of the communication terminal 10 detects the frequency of occurrence of noise in the reproduction of sound data streamed from another terminal, and transmits information indicating the detection result to the communication terminal 10 that is the distribution source. To do. When receiving the information indicating the detection result, the control unit 11 of the communication terminal 10 determines the congestion status of the communication network 20 based on the received information, and adjusts the bit rate based on the determination result. That is, the control unit 11 functions as a congestion status determination unit that determines the congestion status of the communication network based on the processing status of the transmission process, and adjusts the bit rate in the encoding process based on the determination result. It functions as a rate adjustment means.

  Next, the control unit 11 adds 1 to “list pointer nl” (step S11), and determines whether or not “list pointer nl” has moved to the end of the list (step S12). When it is determined that it has not moved to the end of the list (step S12; NO), the control unit 11 returns to the process of step S8, establishes a communication session with the next communication terminal 10, and performs a streaming delivery process. Then, bit rate adjustment processing or the like is performed (steps S8, 9, 10).

  On the other hand, if it is determined in step S12 that the “list pointer nl” has moved to the end of the list, the control unit 11 provides step information indicating the next step after the step indicated by the “current phase number nf”. By transmitting to other terminals, the subsequent phase is transmitted to all other communication terminals 10 (step S13). At this time, the control unit 11 sequentially receives the sound data stream-distributed from the other communication terminals 10 via the communication unit 15. The controller 11 emits the current phase music from the speaker 18 (step S14). That is, the control unit 11 supplies sound data transmitted from the communication terminal 10 indicated by the terminal ID corresponding to the “current phase number nf” to the speaker 18 via the sound processing unit 17 and emits sound from the speaker 18. Let

Next, the control unit 11 waits until it receives stage information from another communication terminal 10, that is, until it shifts to the next phase (step S15, step S16; NO). When the step information is received from another terminal, that is, when it is determined that the process proceeds to the next phase (step S16; YES), the control unit 11 adds 1 to the “current phase number nf” (step S17). As a result, the phase shifts to the next stage. Next, the control unit 11 determines whether or not the “current phase number nf” is larger than the “total number of phases Nfall” (step S18). When it is determined that the current number of phases is smaller than the “total number of phases Nfall”, that is, when there is a phase to be transferred next (step S18; NO), the control unit 11 returns to the process of step S14, The sound data transmitted from the communication terminal 10 in charge of the phase indicated by the “current phase number nf” is supplied to the speaker 18 via the sound processing unit 17 and emitted from the speaker 18 (step S14).
By repeating the processing of step S15 to step S18, the sound emitted from the speaker 18 is switched every time the phase shifts.

  On the other hand, when it is determined in step S18 that there is no phase to be transferred next (step S18; YES), the control unit 11 stops sound emission at that time and emits a communication session. The sound data transmitted from all the communication sessions in which is established is supplied to the sound processing unit 17. The sound processing unit 17 mixes the sound data supplied from the control unit 11 and supplies the sound data to the speaker 18 to emit sound from the speaker 18 (step S19).

  On the other hand, when it is determined in step S7 that “list pointer nl” has moved to the end of the list (step S7; YES), the control unit 11 waits until the meeting start time comes (step S20). ), (Step S21; NO). The control unit 11 determines whether or not the meeting start time has been reached based on a signal from the time measuring unit 19, and if it is determined that it is the start time (step S21; YES), the control unit 11 starts the meeting. Information indicating that it is time, that is, information indicating that the phase shifts is transmitted to the other communication terminals 10 to notify the shift to the final phase to all the other communication terminals 10 (step S22). ).

  In step S4, when the “in-charge phase number Nfn” of the terminal is not “1” (step S4; NO), the control unit 11 stands by until a communication session establishment request is received from another communication terminal 10. When receiving the establishment request message indicating the establishment request of the communication session, the control unit 11 performs a communication session establishment process with the communication terminal 10 that has transmitted the establishment request message (step S23). Next, the control unit 11 transmits the sound data transmitted from the communication terminal 10 that has transmitted the communication session establishment request message in step S23, that is, the communication terminal 10 corresponding to the “current phase number nf”, to the voice processing unit 17. To the speaker 18 and sound is emitted from the speaker 18. At this time, the control unit 11 distributes the sound data (own phase music) stored in the sound data storage area 122 to other communication terminals 10 in a streaming manner (step S24). Next, the control unit 11 performs bit rate adjustment processing by confirming the communication status of streaming delivery (step S25). Next, the control unit 11 waits for the stage information to be transmitted from another communication terminal 10 (step S26, step S27; NO). When the stage information is received, that is, when it is determined to shift to the next phase (step S27; YES), the control unit 11 adds 1 to the value of “current phase number nf” (step S28). As a result, the phase is shifted. Next, the control unit 11 determines whether the “current phase number nf” matches the “in-charge phase number Nfn”, that is, whether the representative communication terminal 10 is the terminal at the stage indicated by the received stage information. It is determined whether or not (step S29). If the determination result in step S29 is negative (step S29; NO), the control unit 11 returns to the process of step S23 and waits for connection from another communication terminal 10 (step S23). On the other hand, when the determination result in step S29 is affirmative, the control unit 11 performs the processing after step S5.

  Thus, the control unit 11 determines whether or not the representative communication terminal 10 (master terminal) is the own terminal at the stage indicated by the “current phase number nf” (step S4, step S29), and the determination result. Is affirmative (step S4; YES, step S29; YES), the sound data stored in the sound data storage area 122 is output to the speaker 18 via the sound processing unit 17 (step S5). Otherwise, the sound data received from the other communication terminal 10 and received from the communication terminal 10 (master terminal) indicated by the representative terminal information corresponding to the “current phase number nf” is processed by voice processing. It outputs to the speaker 18 via the part 17 (step S14, step S24).

As described above, according to this embodiment, the remote conference system 1 establishes communication sessions in a plurality of communication terminals 10 in a plurality of stages (phases) in order. At this time, the sound emitted from the speaker 18 is switched every time the phase shifts. Specifically, in this embodiment, drum performance sounds are emitted from the communication terminal 10 in the “phase 1” stage, and drum and bass performance sounds are emitted in the “phase 2” stage. Next, in the “phase 3” stage, the drum, bass and guitar performance sounds are emitted, and in the phase 4, the drum, bass and guitar performance sounds and vocal singing sound are emitted. Thus, since the sound emitted is switched every time the phase shifts, the user of the remote conference system 1 listens to the sound emitted from the communication terminal 10 to establish the communication session establishment process. The progress can be grasped step by step. Specifically, for example, when a sound corresponding to “Phase 2” is emitted from the communication terminal 10, the user listens to the sound and the processing stage of the establishment process is “Phase 2”. Can be recognized. Further, by changing the sound to be emitted for each phase, the user can recognize that the conference start time is approaching only by being in the vicinity of the communication terminal 10.
In particular, in this embodiment, the performance sound (or singing voice) of the musical instrument (or vocal) can be heard by the user so that it overlaps in turn each time the phase shifts, and the progress of the process can be confirmed by the user. It is possible to notify in an easy-to-understand manner.

  In addition, in this embodiment, since the bit rate adjustment is performed by using the sound data distributed by streaming, it is possible to check the congestion of the transmission path, and it is not necessary to separately distribute the data for adjusting the bit rate. The bit rate can be adjusted while notifying the user of the progress of the communication session establishment process.

<Modification>
Although this embodiment has been described above, this embodiment is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be implemented in various other forms. An example is shown below.
(1) In the above-described embodiment, the remote conference system 1 having the four communication terminals 10 has been described. The number of communication terminals 10 included in the remote conference system 1 is not limited to four, and may be more or less than this. For example, as shown in FIG. 7A, a remote conference system having six communication terminals 10 may be used. FIG. 7B is a list showing the order of session establishment of the remote conference system shown in FIG. Also in the example illustrated in FIG. 7, similarly to the above-described embodiment, the communication session establishment process is sequentially performed for each stage from “Phase 1” to “Phase 6”. Specifically, in the “phase 1” stage, the communication terminal 10A performs a process for establishing a communication session with other communication terminals 10 (communication terminals 10B, 10C, 10D, 10E, and 10F) as a master terminal. In the stage “2”, the communication terminal 10B performs a process of establishing a communication session with other terminals (communication terminals 10C, 10D, 10E, and 10F) as a master terminal. Further, in the “phase 3” stage, the communication terminal 10C serves as a master terminal, and establishes a communication session with other communication terminals 10 (communication terminals 10D, 10E, and 10F). Similarly, also in each stage of “Phase 4” and “Phase 5”, the communication terminals 10E and 10F perform communication session establishment processing as master terminals, respectively, and establish a mesh-type communication session.

(2) In the embodiment described above, the control unit 11 of the communication terminal 10 is configured to change the bit rate by determining the line thickness based on the playback condition of the sound data to be streamed, but the bit rate is not necessarily changed. There is no need to change the bit rate, and the bit rate may not be changed.

(3) In the above-described embodiment, when there is no response from the master terminal in a certain phase, instruction information indicating that a predetermined server apparatus instructs another communication terminal 10 to establish a communication session. May be sent. Further, after another communication terminal 10 waits for a predetermined time for an establishment request message from the master terminal, the process may be continued with the own terminal as the master terminal. As described above, the processing when the establishment of the communication session fails can be changed according to the design of the communication terminal 10 or the like.

(4) In the above-described embodiment, a list indicating the order in which communication sessions are established is stored in advance in the storage unit 12 of the communication terminal 10. Alternatively, the list may be received from a predetermined server device at the timing of starting the communication session establishment process. In the above-described embodiment, each of the plurality of communication terminals 10 included in the remote conference system 1 is configured to store a list. Instead, in the communication session establishment process, The list may be stored only in the communication terminal 10. In this case, when the master terminal transmits to the other communication terminal 10 the stage information indicating the transition to the next phase, the number of connections in the next phase and the terminal information of the connection destination are determined in the next phase. You may make it transmit to the communication terminal 10 used as a master terminal. Further, for example, the communication session establishment process may be performed by transmitting and receiving data including a parameter group indicating the number of connected units and connection destination information.

In the above-described embodiment, a list configured by arranging terminal information for identifying the communication terminals 10 in order is used. However, the information indicating the order in which the communication sessions are established is not limited to this. For example, FIG. The stage information indicating each stage for establishing a communication session in a plurality of stages in order, as shown in FIG. 3, indicates the terminal information indicating the communication terminal and the communication terminal as the connection partner. Data configured in association with destination information may be used as order information. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of the contents of the order information. In the example shown in FIG. 8, the order information stores items of “phase number”, “responsible terminal ID”, and “connection destination terminal ID” in association with each other, as illustrated. Among these items, the “phase number” item stores a phase number (stage information) indicating each stage for establishing a communication session among a plurality of communication terminals 10 in a plurality of stages in order. ing. The item “responsible terminal ID” stores a terminal ID (terminal information) indicating a communication terminal (master terminal) that performs communication session establishment processing at that stage. The item “connection destination terminal ID” stores a connection destination terminal ID (connection destination information) indicating a communication terminal that is a connection partner with which a communication session should be established at that stage. In the example illustrated in FIG. 8, an example of data when a communication session between the communication terminals 10 is established is illustrated in four stages from “Phase 1” to “Phase 4”. In this stage, the communication terminal 10A having the terminal ID “10A” performs processing for establishing a communication session with the communication terminals 10B, 10C, and 10D. Next, in the “phase 2” stage, the communication terminal 10B The contents of data in the case of performing processing for establishing a communication session with the communication terminals 10C and 10D are shown. Similarly, in the “phase 3” stage, the communication terminal 10C performs a process of establishing a communication session with the communication terminal 10D. In this case, a communication session is established between the communication terminals 10 </ b> A, 10 </ b> B, 10 </ b> C, and 10 </ b> D by sequentially establishing communication sessions for each stage from “Phase 1” to “Phase 4”.
In short, the order information may be any information as long as it indicates the order of the establishment processes for establishing the communication sessions between the plurality of communication terminals 10 in a plurality of stages in order.

(5) In the above-described embodiment, the control unit 11 of the communication terminal 10A serving as the master terminal in the first phase (phase 1) starts a communication session establishment process triggered by receiving a signal from the time measuring unit 19 did. The trigger for starting the communication session establishment process is not limited to this. For example, it may be triggered by receiving instruction information for starting the communication session establishment process from a predetermined server device. In addition, for example, as a configuration in which the control unit 11 receives an operation signal input from the operation unit 14, when the operation signal is input from the operation unit 14, the control unit 11 starts communication session establishment processing. Also good. In this case, when an operation is performed by the user, the control unit 11 of the communication terminal 10 starts a communication session establishment process. In short, the input receiving means for receiving the signal input may be one that receives a signal from the operation unit 14, may be one that receives a signal from the timer unit 19, and is predetermined. Instruction information (signal) from a given server device may be received.

(6) In the above-described embodiment, the communication terminal 10 that is the master terminal in the phase transmits the stage information indicating that the process proceeds to the next phase to all other communication terminals. Instead of this, the master terminal may be configured to transmit information indicating the transition to the next phase to the communication terminal that becomes the master terminal in the next phase.

(7) In the above-described embodiment, the sound is cross-faded when the phase shifts. However, the sound does not necessarily need to be cross-faded and may not be cross-faded.

(8) In the above-described embodiment, when the meeting start time is reached, the sound data distributed by streaming from all the communication terminals 10 is mixed and emitted, thereby informing the user that the meeting start time is reached. Informed. The mode of notifying that it is the start time of the conference is not limited to this. For example, the notification may be made by fading out the sound after a certain time has elapsed, or the notification is made, for example, by emitting a sound representing the time signature. May be. Further, for example, a voice message such as “Meeting start time” may be emitted, or a message to that effect may be displayed on the display. In short, any mode may be used as long as it notifies the start of the conference.

(9) In the above-described embodiment, the case where the mesh-type communication session is established has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the mesh-type communication session, and the communication session between a plurality of communication terminals is performed in a plurality of stages. Any form may be used as long as it is established in order.
Further, in the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which one communication terminal is a master terminal per phase. The number of master terminals corresponding to one phase is not limited to one and may be plural.

(10) In the above-described embodiment, the master terminal performs processing for establishing a communication session with another communication terminal 10 after emitting sound according to the sound data stored in the terminal itself. . The order of processing in the present invention is not limited to that shown in the above-described embodiment. For example, after establishing a communication session, sound data stored in the own terminal may be emitted. In short, the master terminal shows a process for emitting a sound according to the sound data stored in the terminal, a process for establishing a communication session with another communication terminal 10, and the following steps: A process of transmitting the stage information to another terminal may be performed, and the order may be any.

(11) The sound data stored in the sound data storage area 121 of the communication terminal 10 is not limited to data representing a performance sound such as a drum as described in the above-described embodiment, or data representing a singing voice. Sound data representing performance sounds of other various instruments such as a trumpet and a violin may be used. Further, for example, data representing a sound having a specific pitch may be used. For example, data representing the pitches of “do”, “mi”, “so”,... Is stored, and the pitch emitted is increased every time the phase shifts. There may be. For example, when the number of communication terminals 10 participating in a remote conference is always the same, the user may notice that it is the start time of the conference when a sound is emitted. it can. In this case, it is not always necessary to stream the sound data.

Further, for example, data representing the performance sound of the drum as “sound data MA”, data representing the performance sound of the base as “sound data MB”, and data representing the performance sound of the guitar as “sound data MC”, “ Data representing vocal singing voice may be stored as “sound data MD”. Moreover, sound data representing different music for each communication terminal 10 may be stored.
In short, the sound data stored in the sound data storage area 121 may be any sound data as long as it represents sound. In addition, it is preferable that different sound data is stored in each of the plurality of communication terminals 10 included in the remote conference system 1.

  In the above-described embodiment, the communication terminal 10 crossfades the sound of the previous stage and the sound of the next stage every time the stage (phase) shifts. Instead of this, the communication terminal 10 may mix and emit the sound data of the previous stage and the sound data of the next stage. That is, the sound of the current phase may be emitted in addition to the sound being emitted. In this case, the performance sound (or singing voice) of the instrument (or vocal) can be heard by the user so that it overlaps in turn each time the phase shifts, and the user can know the progress of the process. It can be easily notified. In short, it is only necessary to output to the speaker 18 sound data corresponding to at least stage information indicating the current phase, among sound data received from other terminals and sound data stored in the sound data storage area 122.

(12) In the above-described embodiment, the sound data is stored in advance in the sound data storage area 122 of all the communication terminals 10 included in the remote conference system 1. Instead of this, the sound data may be stored only in the communication terminal 10 which is the master terminal first. In this case, every time the phase shifts, the communication terminal 10 detects the sound represented by the received sound data, and performs processing based on a predetermined algorithm on the sound data based on the detection result to obtain the sound data. The processed sound data may be output to the speaker 18. Specifically, for example, sound data may be processed and output so as to have a piano or guitar tone.
As described above, sound data stored in advance may be output to the speaker 18, or received sound data or predetermined sound data may be processed and output to the speaker 18.

  In the embodiment described above, the communication terminal 10 stores one type of sound data in the sound data storage area 122. Instead of this, a plurality of sound data may be stored for each phase. In this case, when performing the communication session establishment process shown in FIG. 6, the control unit 11 of the communication terminal 10 identifies the phase in which the terminal is the master terminal based on the order information, and corresponds to the identified phase. Streaming distribution processing and sound emission processing are performed using sound data. In this case, even if the communication terminal 10 is a communication terminal 10 participating in a plurality of conferences and the phase of the master terminal is different for each conference, the streaming distribution processing and sound emission processing corresponding to each conference are performed. Can do.

(13) The program executed by the control unit 11 of the communication terminal 10 in the above-described embodiment is recorded on a recording medium such as a magnetic tape, a magnetic disk, a flexible disk, an optical recording medium, a magneto-optical recording medium, RAM, or ROM. Can be provided in state. It is also possible to download to the communication terminal 10 via a network such as the Internet.

It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of a remote conference system. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of a communication terminal. It is a figure which shows an example of the content of a list. It is a sequence diagram for demonstrating the operation example of a remote conference system. It is a figure which shows a mode that a communication session is established roughly. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of the process which a communication terminal performs. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of a remote conference system. It is a figure for demonstrating an example of the content of order information.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Remote conference system 10 ... Communication terminal 11 ... Control part 12 ... Memory | storage part 13 ... Display part 14 ... Operation part 15 ... Communication part 16 ... Microphone 17 ... Audio | voice processing part 18 ... Speaker DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 19 ... Time measuring part, 20 ... Communication network, 121 ... List storage area, 122 ... Sound data storage area.

Claims (4)

Order information indicating the order of establishment processing for establishing a communication session between a plurality of communication terminals in a plurality of stages in order, and representative terminal information indicating a representative communication terminal in each stage and each stage Order information storage means for storing order information including establishment destination information indicating a communication terminal to which a communication session is established;
Sound data storage means for storing sound data representing sound;
Stage information receiving means for receiving, via a communication network, stage information indicating each stage for establishing a communication session between a plurality of communication terminals in a plurality of stages in order;
Stage determination means for determining whether or not a representative communication terminal is the terminal at the stage indicated by the stage information received by the stage information receiving means;
When the determination result by the step determination unit is affirmative, the establishment destination information corresponding to the step information received by the step information reception unit is read from the order information storage unit, and the communication terminal indicated by the read establishment destination information A communication session establishing means for performing processing for establishing a communication session with
Using the communication session established by the communication session establishment means, the sound data stored in the sound data storage means is transmitted to the communication terminal indicated by the establishment destination information corresponding to the stage information received by the stage information receiving means. Sound data transmitting means for transmitting;
Sound data receiving means for receiving sound data from another terminal;
When the determination result by the step determination means is affirmative, the sound data stored in the sound data storage means is output to the sound emission means, and otherwise, received by the sound data reception means. Sound data output means for outputting sound data received from the communication terminal indicated by the representative terminal information corresponding to the stage information received by the stage information receiving means to the sound emitting means,
Stage information transmitting means for transmitting stage information indicating a stage next to the stage indicated by the stage information received by the stage information receiving means to another terminal when a communication session is established by the communication session establishing means. A communication terminal characterized by that. An input receiving means for receiving a signal input;
When the signal is input to the input reception unit, the establishment destination information corresponding to a predetermined stage is read from the order information storage unit, and a communication session is established with the communication terminal indicated by the read establishment destination information. Second communication session establishing means for performing processing for establishing;
Using the communication session established by the second communication session establishment means, the sound data stored in the sound data storage means is transmitted to the communication terminal indicated by the establishment destination information corresponding to the predetermined stage. Second sound data transmission means,
The sound data output means outputs sound data stored in the sound data storage means when the determination result by the step determination means is affirmative or when the signal is input to the input reception means. In the other case, the sound data is received from the communication terminal indicated by the representative terminal information corresponding to the step information received by the step information receiving unit. Output sound data to the sound emitting means,
Second stage information transmitting means for transmitting stage information indicating a stage next to the stage indicated by the predetermined stage information to another terminal when a communication session is established by the second communication session establishing means; The communication terminal according to claim 1, further comprising: The sound data transmission means transmits sound data generated by performing sound data for real-time transmission by performing encoding processing on the sound data stored in the sound data storage means,
Based on the processing status of the transmission processing of the sound data transmission means, a congestion status determination means for determining the congestion status of the previous communication network,
The communication terminal according to claim 1, further comprising: a bit rate adjusting unit that adjusts a bit rate in an encoding process of the sound data transmitting unit based on a determination result by the congestion state determining unit. Order information indicating the order of establishment processing for establishing a communication session between a plurality of communication terminals in a plurality of stages in order, and representative terminal information indicating a representative communication terminal in each stage and each stage Order information storage means for storing order information including establishment destination information indicating a communication terminal that is the establishment destination of a communication session, and sound data representing sound that is different for each of the plurality of communication terminals A communication session establishment method using a system having a plurality of communication terminals provided with sound data storage means,
A first step in which a first communication terminal receives step information indicating each step for establishing a communication session between a plurality of communication terminals in a plurality of steps in order, via a communication network;
The first communication terminal determines whether or not the representative communication terminal is the own terminal in the stage indicated by the received stage information, and corresponds to the stage information when the determination result is affirmative The establishment destination information to be read from the order information storage means, processing for establishing a communication session with the communication terminal indicated by the read establishment destination information is performed, and the sound data storage means is established using the established communication session A second step of transmitting the sound data stored in
A third step in which the first communication terminal outputs the sound data stored in the sound data storage means to the sound emission means;
A fourth step in which a second communication terminal receives the sound data from the first communication terminal;
A fifth step in which the second communication terminal outputs received sound data to the sound emitting means;
A step of transmitting, to the other terminal, stage information indicating the next stage of the stage indicated by the received stage information when the first communication terminal completes the communication session establishment process; A communication session establishment method characterized by the above.

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