JP2008306547A - Remote lecture system, communication control apparatus and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable each member of a class and a lecturer to make questions and answers therebetween, while restraining traffic of data communication from being increased between a lecturer-side terminal and each member-side terminal. <P>SOLUTION: A lecturer-side terminal group 2 is connected to a communication network 4 via a communication control apparatus 20 and a member-side terminal group 3 is connected to the communication network 4 via a communication control apparatus 30, thereby constituting a remote lecture system 1. The communication control apparatus 20 is then made to perform processing for transferring data received from the lecturer-side terminal group 2 to its destination at all the time and processing for transmitting a permission instruction to permit transmission of data to the member-side terminal group 3 in the case where an instruction to accept data from the member-side terminal group 3 is received from the lecturer-side terminal group 2. On the other hand, the communication control apparatus 30 is made to perform processing to stop transmitting data from the member-side terminal group 3 until it receives the permission instruction, and processing to cancel the stop in timing of receiving the permission instruction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technology for performing a remote lecture by connecting a plurality of student side terminals and one instructor side terminal via a communication network.

In recent years, it has been generally performed to perform a remote conference by connecting communication terminals installed at each of a plurality of geographically distant bases to a communication network, and transmitting and receiving voice data representing a user's voice to each other. . In addition, it has been proposed to perform a so-called video conference by transmitting and receiving not only audio data but also video data representing video of conference participants and video of conference materials (for example, Patent Document 1). This document discloses a video conference system that transmits and receives a plurality of types of data such as audio and video via a plurality of terminal devices connected via a communication network as a transmission means. In this video conference system, each user of a plurality of terminal devices registered in advance as conference participants is registered separately in a dialogue mode in which the progress of a specific agenda is mainly performed and other observer modes. Communication table that edits pre-selected types of dialogue information among the dialogue tables between users classified in the dialogue mode and distributes it to each terminal device classified in the observer mode By having the means, a video conference using a plurality of types of media such as voice and video is realized within the range of the transmission capability of the transmission means.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-7561

By the way, when video data can be transmitted and received in addition to audio data, one lecturer applies the above technique to a remote lecture where a plurality of students follow a document and perform gestures while gesturing. It is possible. In general, in lectures, it is desirable that each student can answer questions at any time. However, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 1, a communication connection for transmitting voice data is not always established between terminal devices. Therefore, it is difficult to conduct the above questions and answers. In addition, if a communication connection for sending and receiving voice data between terminal devices is established at all times, the voice data of irregular speech of each student such as private language may be sent and received at all times. There are also problems such as hindering the performance of the transmission, and causing an increase in traffic of the transmission means (communication network) that mediates the transmission and reception of voice data.
The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and while avoiding an increase in data communication traffic between the teacher side terminal and each student side terminal, the question between each student and the lecturer The purpose is to provide a technology that enables response.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention receives data indicating each of a lecturer's voice, the lecturer's video, and lecture material video from a lecturer-side terminal used by the lecturer, and receives a plurality of students via a communication network. A first communication control device for transferring data to each of the terminals while receiving data transmitted from each of the student side terminals via the communication network and transferring the data to the instructor side terminal; and the plurality of students A second communication control device provided for each of the side terminals, which mediates communication between the corresponding student side terminal and the first communication control device via the communication network A first communication control device, and the first communication control device always sends data indicating the voice of the lecturer to the respective learner side terminals among the data transmitted from the lecturer side terminal. A first process to be transferred and the plurality of processes; Data received from the instructor side terminal when receiving notification from the instructor side terminal from the instructor side terminal, or from the reception status of the data transmitted from the instructor side terminal by the first communication control device When it is detected that the transmission has been completed, a second process of transmitting a permission instruction for permitting the transmission of data to one or a plurality of student terminals is performed, and the plurality of second communication controls Each of the devices suspends data transmission by the student side terminal until the permission instruction transmitted to the corresponding student side terminal is received, and the injunction is triggered by reception of the permission instruction. A remote lecture system characterized by canceling

  In a more preferred aspect, the first communication control device of the remote lecture system measures a communication band that can be allocated to data communication between the instructor side terminal and each of the student side terminals in the communication network. Audio data indicating the lecturer's voice among data received from the lecturer-side terminal is always sent to the communication network, while data indicating the lecturer's video or video of the lecture material is used as the measurement means. When the communication band measured by the above exceeds a predetermined threshold, both or a predetermined one is sent to the communication network.

  In another preferred embodiment, each of the plurality of second communication control devices of the remote lecture system can be assigned to data communication between the instructor terminal and each student terminal in the communication network. Provided with a measuring means for measuring a communication band, on the condition that the injunction is released, the voice of the student who is the user of the student side terminal among the data received from the corresponding student side terminal The audio data shown is always sent to the communication network, while the data indicating the video of the student or the video of the lecture material, when the communication band measured by the measuring means exceeds a predetermined threshold, Both or a predetermined one is transmitted to the communication network.

  Further, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention receives data indicating the voice of the lecturer, the video of the lecturer, and the video of the lecture material from the lecturer-side terminal used by the lecturer, and receives a plurality of data via a communication network. In the communication control device that performs processing of receiving data transmitted from each of the student side terminals via the communication network and transferring the data to the instructor side terminal while transferring to each of the student side terminals, Of the data transmitted from the instructor side terminal, the data indicating the instructor's voice is always transferred to each of the student side terminals, and data from the plurality of student side terminals is accepted. When the instruction is received from the instructor side terminal, or the data transmission by the instructor side terminal is detected from the reception status by the communication control device of the data transmitted from the instructor side terminal. A control unit that transmits a permission instruction to permit transmission of data to one or a plurality of student side terminals, and executes a second process for urging data transmission to the instructor side terminals. There is provided a communication control device, and a program for causing a computer device to execute each of the above processes.

  In order to solve the above problem, the present invention provides data indicating each of the lecturer's voice, the lecturer's video, and the lecture material video, which is transmitted from the lecturer-side terminal used by the lecturer via a communication network. A communication control device for receiving the received data and transferring the data received from the student terminal to the communication network while transferring the data to the student terminal used by the lecturer In this case, until the permission instruction to permit the student side terminal to transmit data is received via the communication network, the transmission of data by the student side terminal is suspended while the permission instruction is received. A communication control device having control means for releasing the injunction triggered by this, and a program for causing a computer device to execute each of the above processes Subjected to.

  According to the present invention, data from each student side terminal to the instructor terminal is transmitted until a permission instruction is transmitted from the communication control device that connects the instructor side terminal to the communication network to one or more student side terminals. Is suspended by the communication control device that connects the student terminal to the communication network. For this reason, it is avoided that the communication traffic between the teacher side terminal and the student side terminal increases without limit. When the communication control device on the student side receives the permission instruction, the injunction is released and data can be transmitted from the student side terminal to the instructor side terminal. For this reason, after the permission instruction reaches the communication control device on the student side, a question and answer can be performed between the student and the lecturer.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
(A: Configuration)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a remote lecture system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The distance lecture system 1 is an employee who works at a geographically distant base such as a branch office of the company (in this embodiment, the base A, the base B, and the base C in this embodiment). This is intended to give various lectures (for example, lectures on new products of the company) to the person. As shown in FIG. 1, the distance learning system 1 includes a communication control device 20 and a lecturer-side terminal group 2 arranged in the head office, a communication control device 30 and a student-side terminal group 3 arranged in each branch, The communication control device 20 and the communication control device 30 are connected to the communication network 4. Although detailed illustration is omitted in FIG. 1, the communication control device 30 and the student-side terminal group 3 are also arranged at the sites B and C. The instructor-side terminal group 2 includes an imaging device 21, a voice input / output device 22, and an operation terminal 23. The student-side terminal group 3 also includes an imaging device 31, a voice input / output device 32, and an operation terminal. 33 is included.

  The communication network 4 is, for example, the Internet, and serves to mediate data communication performed between the communication control device 20 and the communication control device 30 according to a predetermined communication protocol such as TCP / IP. In the remote lecture system 1 shown in FIG. 1, each of the communication control device 20 and the communication control device 30 has an identifier (in this embodiment, a communication address such as an IP address) that uniquely identifies these devices within the communication network 4. ) Are assigned in advance, and data communication is performed with these communication addresses as destinations. In addition, when it is necessary to consider confidential information leakage in such data communication, the communication network 4 may be configured by a dedicated line communication network. Further, even when a general public line such as the Internet is used as the communication network 4, it is possible to prevent leakage of secret information using an existing technology such as a VPN (Virtual Private Network). Hereinafter, the configuration and role of each device that is a component of the remote lecture system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described.

(A-1: Configuration of instructor-side terminal group 2)
The instructor-side terminal group 2 is used by instructors for remote lectures. As shown in FIG. 1, the imaging device 21 and the voice input / output device 22 included in the instructor-side terminal group 2 are each connected to the operation terminal 23 via a communication line such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus) cable. The imaging device 21 includes, for example, a CCD (Charge Coupled Devices) sensor, and gives video data representing video captured by the CCD sensor to the operation terminal 23. In the remote lecture system 1, the video of the lecturer during the lecture is captured by the imaging device 21, and video data representing the video is given to the operation terminal 23. The voice input / output device 22 includes a voice codec (not shown) connected to the operation terminal 23, and a microphone and a speaker (both not shown) connected to the voice codec. The microphone picks up the lecturer's voice and provides an audio signal representing the voice to the voice codec. The audio codec performs A / D conversion on the audio signal received from the microphone to convert the audio signal into audio data and supplies the audio data to the operation terminal 23, while converting the audio data received from the operation terminal 23 to an audio signal To the speaker. The speaker reproduces the audio signal received from the audio codec as sound. In the present embodiment, the instructor-side terminal group 2 is configured by using separate hardware as the imaging device 21, the voice input / output device 22, and the operation terminal 23, and connecting them with a USB cable. Of course, it may be integrated into hardware.

  The operation terminal 23 is, for example, a personal computer (hereinafter, PC). Although detailed illustration is omitted in FIG. 1, the operation terminal 23 includes a control unit configured with a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a display unit configured with a liquid crystal display and its drive circuit, a pointing device such as a mouse, and a keyboard. And an volatile storage unit such as a RAM (Random Access Memory). The nonvolatile storage unit of the operation terminal 23 stores in advance a lecturer program for causing the control unit to execute processing of the instructor side terminal of the remote lecture system according to the present embodiment. The control unit operating in accordance with the instructor program displays the user interface (hereinafter referred to as UI) screen shown in FIG. 2 on the display unit of the operation terminal 23, and executes various operations for performing the remote lecture. The user of the operation terminal 23 (that is, a remote lecturer) is prompted.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the UI screen displayed on the display unit of the operation terminal 23 is provided with two video display areas A01 and A02, and twelve virtual buttons B01 to B12. In the present embodiment, any one of video data representing the video of the lecturer imaged by the imaging device 21 and video data representing the video of the lecture material that is an electronic document created by spreadsheet software or the like is the operation terminal. 23 to the communication control device 20. Although details will be described later, in this embodiment, audio data and video data are distributed from the communication control device 20 to each site side, so that the audio of the instructor, the video of the instructor, etc. are transmitted to the students at each site. Distance lectures are realized. The video display area A01 in FIG. 2 is an area for displaying video represented by video data to be distributed to each base, and the video display area A02 is an area for displaying video represented by the other video data. . For example, FIG. 2 illustrates a UI screen in a state where the video of the lecture material is displayed in the video display area A01 and the video of the lecturer is displayed in the video display area A02. The instructor program is programmed to output video data representing the instructor's video to the communication control device 20 immediately after the start of the program. Therefore, the video of the lecturer is displayed in the video display area A01, and the video of the lecture material is displayed in the video display area A02.

  The user of the operation terminal 23 uses the operation unit to click the virtual button B06 as to which of the video data representing the lecturer's video and the video data representing the lecture material video to be output to the communication control device 20. The control unit of the operation terminal 23 switches the video data to be output to the communication control device 20 according to the instruction content, and also switches the display content of the video display areas A01 and A02. Therefore, the user of the operation terminal 23 can grasp which of the two types of video data is distributed to each site from the display contents of the video display areas A01 and A02. The virtual buttons B07 and B08 in FIG. 2 are virtual buttons that are displayed only when a lecture material consisting of a plurality of pages is displayed page by page in the video display area A01.

  The virtual button B01 on the UI screen shown in FIG. 2 is a virtual button for instructing execution of processing for notifying each student of the start of the lecture, and the virtual button B02 is processing for notifying each student of the end of the lecture. This is a virtual button for instructing the execution of. For example, when the control unit detects a click on the virtual button B01, the control unit communicates an instruction (hereinafter referred to as start instruction) to distribute a communication message (hereinafter referred to as start notification message) to notify the start of the lecture. When control unit 20 is detected and the click of virtual button B02 is detected, an instruction (hereinafter referred to as an end instruction) indicating that a communication message (hereinafter referred to as an end notification message) for notifying the end of the lecture is to be distributed to each base is subjected to communication control. To device 20.

The virtual button B03 is a virtual button for instructing to stop transmission of the audio data and the cancellation thereof, and the virtual button B04 is a virtual button for instructing to stop transmission of the video data and the cancellation thereof. The instructor program is programmed to display the UI screen on the display unit with the virtual buttons B03 and B04 turned off (stop release state) immediately after the start of the program. The user of the operation terminal 23 appropriately operates the operation unit and clicks the virtual buttons B03 and B04, so that the virtual buttons are turned from the off state to the on state (that is, the transmission is stopped) or from the on state to the off state. Can be switched to a state. When the control unit of the operation terminal 23 detects that the virtual button B03 is switched to the on state, it stops outputting the audio data received from the voice input / output device 22 to the communication control device 20, and the virtual button B04 is turned on. When it is detected that the state has been switched, the output of the video data representing the video of the lecturer or the video of the lecture material to the communication control device 20 is stopped. When the control unit of the operation terminal 23 detects that the virtual button B03 is switched to the off state, the control unit 23 resumes outputting the voice data received from the voice input / output device 22 to the communication control device 20, and the virtual button B04. When it is detected that has been switched to the off state, output of video data representing the video of the lecturer or video of the lecture material to the communication control device 20 is resumed.
The virtual button B05 is a virtual button for instructing to stop and cancel data transmission from each site. The instructor program is programmed so that the virtual button B05 is turned on (transmission stopped state) and the UI screen is displayed on the display unit immediately after the execution is started. The user of the operation terminal 23 can switch the virtual button B05 to an off state (that is, a stop release state) by appropriately operating the operation unit and clicking the virtual button B05. When the control unit of the operation terminal 23 detects that the virtual button B05 is switched to the OFF state, it gives an instruction to the communication control device 20 to permit data communication for question and answer (hereinafter, question permission instruction). . On the other hand, when detecting that the virtual button B05 is switched to the ON state, the control unit of the operation terminal 23 gives an instruction to the communication control device 20 to suspend data transmission from each base side.

  Each of the virtual buttons B10 to B12 is used to notify whether or not the student is participating in the lecture at each base, and to notify whether or not the student wants a question and answer session. Used for When the control unit of the operation terminal 23 receives a notification (hereinafter referred to as a participation notification) indicating the participation in the remote lecture for each student from the communication control device 20, the control unit 23 participates in the remote lecture among the virtual buttons B10 to B12. Turn on the virtual button corresponding to the stated location (or change the display color). When the control unit of the operation terminal 23 receives a notification indicating that the student wants a question and answer (hereinafter referred to as a question request notification) from the communication control device 20, the control unit blinks the virtual button corresponding to the request source. , To that effect. In addition, the virtual buttons B09 to B12 are also used for instructing which of the students and lecturers of each base the voice and video are to be distributed during the question-and-answer session.

(A-2: Configuration of the communication control device 20)
As illustrated in FIG. 3, the communication control device 20 includes a control unit 210, a first communication interface (hereinafter, “IF”) unit 220, a second communication IF unit 230, a mixer unit 240, a storage unit 250, and their configurations. It has a bus 260 that mediates data exchange between elements. The control unit 210 is, for example, a CPU. The control unit 210 plays a role as a control center of the communication control device 20 by operating according to the instructor side communication control program stored in the storage unit 250. Processing executed by the control unit 210 according to the instructor-side communication control program will be described in detail later. The first communication IF unit 220 and the second communication IF unit 230 are connected to a NIC (Network
Interface Card). The first communication IF unit 220 is connected to the operation terminal 23 via a LAN (Local Area Network not shown) such as Ethernet (registered trademark), and the second communication IF unit 230 is connected to the communication network 4. . Both the first communication IF unit 220 and the second communication IF unit 230 receive data sent from the outside of the communication control device 20 and deliver it to the control unit 210, while receiving data received from the control unit 210. 20 to the outside. Here, the outside of the communication control device 20 for the first communication IF unit 220 is the operation terminal 23 connected to the first communication IF unit 220 via the LAN, and for the second communication IF unit 230. The outside of the communication control device 20 is the communication network 4. The mixer unit 240 receives one or a plurality of audio data from the control unit 210. When the mixer unit 240 receives a plurality of audio data from the control unit 210, the mixer unit 240 mixes them and delivers the audio data as the mixing result to the control unit 210, while receiving one audio data from the control unit 210. If the sound data is received, the sound data is returned to the control unit 210 as it is.

The storage unit 250 includes a nonvolatile storage unit 250a and a volatile storage unit 250b.
The non-volatile storage unit 250a stores the student management table shown in FIG. 4 and the instructor-side communication control program described above. On the other hand, the volatile storage unit 250b is, for example, a RAM, and is used by the control unit 210 as a work area when executing the instructor-side communication control program. In the student management table, as shown in FIG. 4, a communication control device disposed in each base in association with a base identifier that uniquely indicates each base (for example, character string data indicating the name of each base) 30 communication addresses and a participation state flag are stored. The participation state flag in FIG. 4 indicates whether or not the student is participating in the distance lecture at the base identified by the base identifier corresponding to the participation state flag (“participation” if the value is “1”, conversely If the value is “0”, the flag indicates “no participation”. Although details will be described later, the stored contents of the student management table are referred to by the control unit 210 operating according to the instructor-side communication control program when various messages and data are distributed to each base. At the same time, it is appropriately updated according to the reception status of the communication message transmitted from each base side via the communication network 4 and the instruction given from the operation terminal 23.

In the present embodiment, when the power (not shown) of the communication control device 20 is turned on, the control unit 210 reads the lecturer side communication control program from the nonvolatile storage unit 250a to the volatile storage unit 250b, and Start execution. The control unit 210 operating according to the instructor-side communication control program executes the following two processes.
First, various communication messages are generated in accordance with instructions given from the operation terminal 23 via the first communication IF unit 220 and addressed to each base (that is, each communication address stored in the student management table) This is a message relay process in which notification is sent to the operation terminal 23 in response to the communication message received from each site. Second, among the audio data and video data received from the operation terminal 23 via the first communication IF unit 220 and the audio data and video data received from each site side via the second communication IF unit 230, distribution is performed. This is data distribution processing in which what is instructed from the operation terminal 23 as a target is distributed to the operation terminal 23 and each base. The control unit 210 performs processing by the mixer unit 240 on the audio data instructed from the operation terminal 23 as a distribution target, and distributes the audio data returned from the mixer unit 240 to the operation terminal 23 and each base.

  As an example of the communication message delivered from the communication control device 20 to each communication control device 30 by the message relay process, the above-described start notification message and the mode switching instruction for instructing the communication control device 30 to switch the operation mode are given. Message. The start notification message is transmitted to all communication addresses stored in the student management table when the start instruction is given from the operation terminal 23. On the other hand, the mode switching instruction message is a communication message transmitted when the above-described question permission instruction is given from the operation terminal 23, and the operation mode is set to the lecture attendance mode for the communication control device 30. Is a communication message instructing to switch from Q to Q & A mode (these two operation modes will be clarified later). This mode switching instruction message is transmitted only to the communication address stored in the student management table in association with the participation state flag whose value is “1”. The reason for this is that it is necessary to consult with all bases for participation in remote lectures, but the bases that do not participate in remote lectures (in the student management table in association with the participation status flag whose value is “0”) This is because it is not necessary to permit the question to the base) identified by the stored base identifier.

On the other hand, examples of the notification made by the message relay process include the participation notification and the question request notification described above. The participation notification is a base identifier corresponding to the transmission source address of the participation notification message when a communication message indicating the participation in the remote lecture (hereinafter referred to as a participation notification message) is received via the communication network 4. Is provided to the operation terminal 23. The control unit 210 performs a process of updating the value of the participation state flag corresponding to the transmission source to “1” when receiving the participation notification message.
The above is the configuration of the teacher side terminal group 2 and the communication control device 20.

(A-3: Configuration of student terminal group 3)
Returning to FIG. 1, the configuration of the student side terminal group 3 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, the student side terminal group 3 includes a communication control device 30, an imaging device 31, a voice input / output device 32, and an operation terminal 33 connected to the communication network 4. The imaging device 31 and the voice input / output device 32 are each connected to the operation terminal 33 by, for example, a USB cable, and the operation terminal 33 is connected to the communication control device 30. Here, the imaging device 31 plays the same role as the imaging device 21, and the configuration thereof is the same as that of the imaging device 21. The voice input / output device 32 plays the same role as the voice input / output device 22, and the configuration thereof is the same as that of the voice input / output device 22. Therefore, detailed description of the imaging device 31 and the voice input / output device 32 is omitted.

  The operation terminal 33 is a PC like the operation terminal 23, and includes a control unit, a display unit, an operation unit, a volatile storage unit, and a nonvolatile storage unit (not shown). The non-volatile storage unit of the operation terminal 33 stores in advance a student program that causes the control unit to execute a process for displaying the UI screen shown in FIG.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen format of a UI screen displayed on the display unit by the control unit of the operation terminal 33 according to the student program. As apparent from a comparison between FIG. 5 and FIG. 2, the screen format of the UI screen displayed on the display unit of the operation terminal 33 is substantially the same as the screen format of the UI screen displayed on the display unit of the operation terminal 23. However, the virtual buttons B13, B14, and B15 are provided in place of the virtual buttons B01, B02, and B05, and the virtual buttons B06 to B12 are not provided. In the UI screen shown in FIG. 5, the area where the virtual buttons B07 to B12 are provided on the UI screen shown in FIG. 2 is used as a message display area A03 for displaying a message indicating the progress of the lecture. It is also different. In addition, in the UI screen shown in FIG. 5, a video represented by video data sent from the communication control device 20 via the communication network 4 is always displayed in the video display area A01, and the video display area A02 displays the video. 2 is different from the UI screen shown in FIG. 2 in that the video captured by the imaging device 31 (that is, the video of the student) is always displayed. Here, the reason why the virtual buttons B06 to B08 are not provided on the UI screen shown in FIG. 5 is that the operation terminal 33 only displays video based on video data transmitted via the communication network 4. This is because there is no room for the student to select whether to display the video of the lecture material or the video of the lecturer. In addition, the virtual buttons B09 to B12 are not provided on the UI screen shown in FIG. 5 because the student terminal group 3 performs audio reproduction based on audio data transmitted via the communication network 4. This is because there is no room for the student to select the audio to be played. In addition, the student program is programmed to display the UI screen on the display unit with the virtual buttons B03 and B04 turned on (transmission stopped state) immediately after the start of the program. Different from the instructor program. This is because it is not necessary to transmit audio data or video data from the student side to the instructor side immediately after starting the execution of the student program and starting the lecture.

  The virtual button B13 on the UI screen shown in FIG. 5 is a virtual button for instructing the user of the operation terminal 33 to participate in the lecture (that is, start of attendance), and the virtual button B14 is the user of the operation terminal 33. Is a virtual button for instructing the user to leave the lecture being taken (that is, to end the course). For example, when the control unit of the operation terminal 33 detects a click on the virtual button B <b> 13, the control unit 33 gives an instruction to transmit a participation notification message (hereinafter referred to as a participation notification instruction) to the communication control device 30. A virtual button B15 on the UI screen shown in FIG. 5 is a virtual button for causing the student to make a request for a question to the lecturer. When detecting the click of the virtual button B15, the control unit of the operation terminal 33 gives the communication control apparatus 30 an instruction to transmit the above-described question request message (hereinafter, question request instruction).

(A-4: Configuration of communication control device 30)
FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of the communication control device 30.
As illustrated in FIG. 6, the hardware configuration of the communication control device 30 is the same as the hardware configuration of the communication control device 20 except that the mixer unit 240 is not included. Here, the reason why the communication control device 30 does not have a component corresponding to the mixer unit 240 is as follows. The other device that communicates with the communication control device 30 via the communication network 4 is only the communication control device 20, and the communication control device 30 may transfer the voice data received from the communication control device 20 to the operation terminal 33 as it is. Because.

As described above, the hardware configuration of the communication control device 30 is the same as the hardware configuration of the communication control device 20 except that the hardware configuration of the communication control device 30 does not include components corresponding to the mixer unit 240. In 350a, the communication address of the communication control device 20 is stored in advance, and a student side communication control program different from the above-described lecturer side communication control program is stored. The control unit 310 executes the student side communication control program and executes processing different from that of the control unit 210 described above. If it demonstrates in detail, the control part 310 which is operate | moving according to the student side communication control program will perform the following three processes.
First, various communication messages are generated according to instructions given from the operation terminal 33 via the first communication IF unit 320, transmitted to the communication control device 20, and the communication message received from the communication control device 20 is sent to the communication message. This is a message relay process for performing a corresponding notification to the operation terminal 33. For example, if the communication message received from the communication control device 20 is a start notification message, the control unit 310 gives the start notification described above to the operation terminal 33. If the communication message is a mode switching instruction message, the control unit 310 A permission instruction is given to the operation terminal 33. In addition, when receiving a participation notification from the operation terminal 33, the control unit 310 transmits a participation notification message to the communication control device 20, and when receiving a question request instruction from the operation terminal 33, the above-described question A request message is transmitted to the communication control apparatus 20.

  Secondly, the audio data and the video data received from the operation terminal 33 via the first communication IF unit 320 are transmitted to the communication control device 20 via the second communication IF unit 330, while the second communication IF unit 330 is transmitted. Is a data relay process in which the audio data and video data received via the operation terminal 33 are provided to the operation terminal 33 via the first communication IF unit 320. However, this data relay process has two types of operation modes: a “lecture attendance mode” and a “question and answer mode”. Here, in the lecture attendance mode, only the audio data and video data transmitted from the communication control device 20 are transferred to the operation terminal 33, and the data communication in the opposite direction (that is, the first communication IF unit 320 is performed). Transfer of the data received from the operation terminal 33 to the communication control device 20 via the communication terminal device 20), and the question and answer mode is an operation mode for canceling the above-mentioned prohibition and mediating both data communications. . The student side communication control program is programmed to operate in the “question and answer mode” immediately after the start of execution thereof.

Third, there is a mode switching process for switching the operation mode of the data relay process according to the notification received from the operation terminal 33 or the content of the communication message received from the communication control device 20 via the communication network 4. Specifically, the control unit 310 switches the operation mode to the “lecture attendance mode” when receiving the participation notification from the operation terminal 33, and receives the mode switching instruction message from the communication control device 20. As a result, the operation mode is switched to the “Q & A mode”.
The above is the configuration of the student side terminal group 3 and the communication control device 30.

(B: Operation)
Next, among the operations performed by each device in the present embodiment, the operation that significantly shows the characteristics of the present invention, that is, the operations performed by the communication control device 20 and the communication control device 30 will be mainly described. In the operation example described below, the power of each device constituting the remote lecture system 1 is already turned on, the above-described lecturer program is provided on the operation terminal 23, and the above-described student program is provided on the operation terminal 33. It is assumed that each is executed. In addition, the control unit 210 of the communication control device 20 operates according to the above-described lecturer-side communication control program, and the control unit 310 of the communication control device 30 operates according to the above-described student-side communication control program. To do.

  Since the above-described lecturer program is executed on the operation terminal 23, a UI screen (see FIG. 2) for executing the remote lecture is displayed on the display unit. When the control unit of the operation terminal 23 detects that an operation for instructing the start of the remote lecture (an operation for clicking the virtual button B01) is performed, the control unit 20 gives the above-described start instruction to the communication control device 20. The control unit 210 of the communication control device 20 receives the start instruction output from the operation terminal 23 as described above via the first communication IF unit 220, and multicasts a start notification message to each base according to the start instruction. To do. Although detailed illustration is omitted in FIG. 7, in the present embodiment, three different communication addresses are stored in the student management table stored in the nonvolatile storage unit 250a of the communication control device 20 (see FIG. 4). Therefore, a total of three start notification messages are transmitted from the communication control device 20. In this way, each of the start notification messages transmitted from the communication control device 20 is routed by a network device (for example, a router) in the communication network 4 and reaches the communication control device 30 that is the destination.

  When the control unit 310 of the communication control device 30 receives the start notification message via the second communication IF unit 330, the control unit 310 gives the above-described start notification to the operation terminal 33 via the first communication IF unit 320. When receiving the start notification, the control unit of the operation terminal 33 displays a message notifying the start of the remote lecture in the message display area A03 (see FIG. 5). By visually recognizing this message, the user of the operation terminal 33 can grasp that the remote lecture is started. When the user desires to attend the lecture, the user performs an operation for participating in the lecture (in this embodiment, an operation for clicking the virtual button B13 on the UI screen shown in FIG. 5). You can start taking the distance lecture. On the other hand, when the control unit of the operation terminal 33 detects that an operation for participating in the remote lecture has been performed on the operation unit, the communication control device transmits the above-described participation notification instruction via the first communication IF unit 320. 30.

  As shown in FIG. 7, when receiving the participation notification instruction output from the operation terminal 33, the control unit 310 of the communication control device 30 first sets the operation mode of the own device to “lecture attendance mode” (FIG. 7). Step S300), generating the above-described participation notification message, and returning the participation notification message to the transmission source of the start notification message (that is, the communication control device 20). In this way, the participation notification message sent from the communication control device 30 reaches the communication control device 20 via the communication network 4 (see FIG. 7). On the other hand, when the control unit 210 of the communication control device 20 receives the participation notification message via the second communication IF unit 230, the value of the participation state flag (see FIG. 4) corresponding to the transmission source address of the participation notification message. Is updated to “1” (FIG. 7: step S200), and thereafter, a base identifier corresponding to the transmission source address is given to the operation terminal 23 via the first communication IF unit 220, thereby performing participation notification. In this way, the control unit of the operation terminal 23 that has received the participation notification from the communication control device 20 lights the virtual button corresponding to the participation notification, and the student at the base corresponding to the virtual button has participated in the lecture. This is notified to the user of the operation terminal 23 (that is, the lecturer). Then, the user of the operation terminal 23 grasps the attendance status of the student at each base based on the lighting status of the virtual buttons B10 to B12 on the UI screen shown in FIG. The lecture starts when the number of people reaches a predetermined number.

  When the lecture is started as described above, the voice input / output device 22 collects the speech of the lecturer, and the voice data representing the voice is supplied from the voice input / output device 22 to the operation terminal 23. The control unit of the operation terminal 23 distributes the audio data received from the audio input / output device 22 and the video data supplied from the imaging device 21 or the video data representing the video of the lecture material selected by the lecturer. It outputs to the communication control apparatus 20 as object data (refer FIG. 7). Here, the lecturer who gives a lecture while visually recognizing the UI screen (see FIG. 2) displayed on the display unit of the operation terminal 23 clicks on the virtual button B06 in the UI screen, so that his / her video and lecture material are displayed. It is possible to switch the video data representing which of the video images to be distributed to each site while confirming the display contents of the video display areas A01 and A02. The video data and audio data output from the operation terminal 23 in this way are transferred by the communication control device 20 to the communication control device 30 at the base participating in the remote lecture, and reach each operation terminal 33. When receiving the video data and the audio data, the control unit of the operation terminal 33 performs a reproduction process according to the type of the data. Specifically, for the video data, the control unit of the operation terminal 33 performs processing for displaying the video represented by the video data in the video display area A01, and for the audio data, the audio data is input to the audio input / output device. 32, the sound represented by the sound data is reproduced. As a result, the speech of the lecturer is reproduced, and the video of the lecturer or the video of the lecture material is reproduced, and the user of the operation terminal 33 can take the lecture.

  As described above, when the control unit of the operation terminal 33 operating according to the student program detects that an operation of switching the virtual button B03 and the virtual button B04 from the on state to the off state is performed, the voice input is performed. Audio data input from the output device 32 to the operation terminal 33 and video data input from the imaging device 31 to the operation terminal 33 are output to the communication control device 30. However, since the control unit 310 of the communication control device 30 operates in the lecture attendance mode, even if video data and audio data are received from the operation terminal 33, the data is not transferred to the communication control device 20 but discarded. To do. In other words, video data and audio data output from the operation terminal 33 are stopped from being sent to the communication network 4 by the communication control device 30 (see FIG. 7), and those data are not sent to the communication network 4. For this reason, for example, the irregular speech of the student is not transmitted to the instructor terminal group 2 or the other student terminal group 3, and the communication network 4 is used to transmit / receive the voice data of the irregular speech. The communication bandwidth that can be used for transmission / reception of data such as voice data representing lecturer's voice and video data representing lecture materials, etc. is compressed, resulting in hindrance to transmission / reception of such data. There will be no inconvenience.

  As described above, in this embodiment, a remote lecture is performed. However, a lecturer who has performed a lecture by appropriately operating the operation terminal 23 performs the lecture by completing the explanation of the lecture materials. When completed, an operation for permitting questions to each student (in this embodiment, an operation for switching the virtual button B05 from the on state to the off state) is performed. When the control unit of the operation terminal 23 detects that the above operation has been performed, the control unit 20 gives the above-described question permission instruction to the communication control device 20. As shown in FIG. 7, when the control unit 210 of the communication control device 20 receives the above-described question permission instruction, the control unit 210 transmits the above-described mode switching instruction message to the communication control device 30 of the base participating in the remote lecture. To do. The mode switching instruction message transmitted from the communication control device 20 in this way reaches the communication control device 30 that is the destination via the communication network 4. When the control unit 310 of the communication control device 30 receives the mode switching instruction message via the second communication IF unit 330, it switches the operation mode of its own device to the “question and answer mode” in accordance with the content of the switching instruction message. (FIG. 7: Step S310), and then the above-mentioned question permission notification is given to the operation terminal 33 via the first communication IF unit 320.

  When the control unit of the operation terminal 33 receives the question permission notification, the control unit 33 displays a message indicating that the question and answer has been started in the message display area A03 and notifies the fact. The user of the operation terminal 33 grasping that the question and answer has been started by this notification clicks on the virtual button B15 to send a question request to the control unit, thereby requesting that the question and answer be requested. Can be communicated to other users (ie, instructors). Specifically, upon reception of the question request instruction, the control unit 310 of the communication control device 30 transmits a question request message to the communication control device 20, and the control unit 210 of the communication control device 20 receives the question request message. Thus, the above-described question request notification is given to the operation terminal 23. The control unit of the operation terminal 23 that has received the question request notification transmits to the user of its own device that a question and answer is requested by blinking the corresponding one of the virtual buttons B10 to B12. is there. When the user of the operation terminal 23 performs an operation of clicking on the corresponding one of the virtual buttons B10 to B12, the data transmitted from the base corresponding to the virtual button should be distributed to each base. The communication control device 20 is instructed, and the questioner is appointed (calling the name of the questioner, etc.), and a question-and-answer session is started. On the other hand, the user designated as the questioner by the lecturer makes a statement indicating the question content, and the audio data indicating the statement content and the video data indicating the video of the student are sent from the operation terminal 33 to the communication control device 30. Although given, since the control unit 310 of the communication control device 30 operates in the question-and-answer mode, the data is transferred to the communication network 4. The audio data and video data sent from the communication control device 30 to the communication network 4 in this way arrives at the communication control device 20, and after mixing processing for the audio data is performed by the communication control device 20 The data is transferred to the terminal 23 and each communication control device 30. As a result, the content of the remarks of the questioner is transmitted to the instructor and other students, and a question and answer is realized.

  As described above, according to the remote lecture system 1 according to the present embodiment, the question permission message is transmitted from the communication control device 20 arranged on the lecturer side to the communication control device 30 arranged at each base. Until then, the data transmission from each student side terminal group 3 to the instructor side terminal group 2 is stopped by the communication control device 30, and it is avoided that the communication traffic of the communication network 4 increases without limit. In addition, after the communication control device 30 releases the injunction upon receiving the question permission message, it is possible to transmit data from the student side terminal group 3 to the instructor side terminal group 2, and the student and instructor Q & A can be conducted with

(C: deformation)
Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, it goes without saying that the following modifications may be added to this embodiment.
(1) In the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which a lecture for new product training in a company is performed by the remote lecture system according to the present invention. However, the scope of application of the present invention is not limited to in-company training, and may of course be applied to learning for the purpose of self-development such as qualification acquisition and home learning for elementary and junior high school students and high school students.

(2) In the above-described embodiment, the mixer unit 240 is a component of the communication control device 20, but the mixer unit 240 is not an essential component of the communication control device 20, and a general mixer device communicates with a USB cable or the like. You may connect to the control apparatus 20. In the above-described embodiment, the imaging device 21 and the voice input / output device 22 are connected to the operation terminal 23 with the USB cable, but may be connected to the communication control device 20. However, in a mode in which the imaging device 21 and the voice input / output device 22 are connected to the communication control device 20, video data indicating the video of the lecture material is given from the operation terminal 23 to the communication control device 20, and the video of the lecture material is displayed. In response to an operation on the virtual button B06 on the UI screen shown in FIG. 2, an instruction is given from the operation terminal 23 to the communication control device 20 as to which of the video data shown and the video data showing the teacher's video is to be distributed to each site. It is necessary to cause the control unit 210 of the communication control device 20 to execute communication control according to this instruction. Similarly, an instruction is given from the operation terminal 23 to the communication control device 20 according to the operation on the virtual button B03 or the virtual button B04 as to whether or not to stop the delivery of the audio data and whether or not to stop the delivery of the video data. There is a need. Similarly, the student-side terminal group 3 may be configured by connecting the imaging device 31 and the voice input / output device 32 to the communication control device 30 with a USB cable.

(3) In the above-described embodiment, the mode switching instruction message is transmitted to the control unit 210 of the communication control device 20 when the question permission instruction is given from the operation terminal 23, and the mode switching instruction message is received. As a result, the control unit 310 of the communication control device 30 is caused to execute the process of switching the operation mode from the “lecture attendance mode” to the “question and answer mode”. However, as shown in FIG. 8, the control unit 210 detects that the transmission of the audio data from the operation terminal 23 is completed (FIG. 7: step S210), and a mode switching instruction message is transmitted triggered by the detection. You may make the control part 210 perform a process. In addition, as a specific mode for causing the control unit 210 to detect that the transmission of the audio data from the operation terminal 23 is completed, for example, the time when the audio data output from the operation terminal 23 was most recently received is used as the starting point. There may be a mode in which it is determined that transmission of audio data from the operation terminal 23 is completed when new audio data is not received from the operation terminal 23 until a predetermined time elapses after the start of timing.

(4) The communication control device 20 is provided with a measuring unit that measures a communication band that can be allocated to data communication with each communication control device 30 in the communication network 4, and the voice data indicating the voice of the lecturer is always in communication. For the data indicating the lecturer's video or lecture material that is sent to the network 4, both or both of them are determined in advance only when the communication band measured by the measuring means exceeds a predetermined threshold. To the communication network 4 may be executed. In this way, even when a communication band sufficient to transmit and receive both audio data and video data cannot be allocated, the transfer of audio data is executed with priority over the transfer of video data, so at least the audio The effect is that the lecture progress and question-and-answer session can be made only by the lecture. In addition, in order to obtain the same effect, the communication control device 30 is provided with a measuring unit that measures a communication band that can be allocated to data communication with the communication control device 20 in the communication network 4, so that the student side to the lecturer side On the condition that the prohibition of data transmission is released, the audio data indicating the audio of the student is always sent to the communication network 4, while the video data representing the video of the student is When the communication band measured by the measuring means exceeds a predetermined threshold value, a process of sending both or a predetermined one to the communication network 4 may be executed.

(5) In the above-described embodiment, a case where a communication control program for causing the CPU to execute processing characteristic of the instructor-side communication control device according to the present invention is written in the nonvolatile storage unit 250a of the communication control device 20 in advance. explained. However, the communication control program may be written and distributed in a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory) or a DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), or an electric communication such as the Internet. It may be distributed by downloading via a line. Similarly, the communication control program stored in advance in the nonvolatile storage unit 350a of the communication control device 30 in the embodiment described above (that is, the CPU performs processing characteristic of the student-side communication control device according to the present invention) (Program to be executed) may be distributed by writing in a computer-readable recording medium, or may be distributed by downloading via a telecommunication line.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the remote lecture system 1 which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of UI screen displayed on the display part of the operation terminal 23 contained in the lecturer side terminal group 2 of the remote lecture system 1. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the communication control apparatus 20 which is a component of the remote lecture system 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the student management table stored in the non-volatile memory | storage part 250a of the communication control apparatus 20. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of UI screen displayed on the display part of the operation terminal 33 contained in the student side terminal group 3 of the remote lecture system 1. FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the communication control apparatus 30 which is a component of the remote lecture system 1. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the communication sequence in the same remote lecture system. It is a figure which shows an example of the communication sequence in the remote conference system which concerns on the modification 1. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Remote lecture system, 2 ... Lecturer side terminal group, 3 ... Participant side terminal group, 4 ... Communication network, 20, 30 ... Communication control device, 21, 31 ... Imaging device, 22, 32 ... Voice input / output device, 23, 33 ... operation terminal, 210, 310 ... control unit, 220, 320 ... first communication IF unit, 230, 330 ... second communication IF unit, 240 ... mixer unit, 250, 350 ... storage unit, 250a, 350a ... Nonvolatile storage unit, 250b, 350b ... volatile storage unit, 260, 360 ... bus.

Claims (7)

The lecturer's voice, the lecturer's video, and the data indicating the lecture material video are received from the lecturer side terminal used by the lecturer and transferred to each of the plurality of student side terminals via the communication network. A first communication control device that receives data transmitted from each of the person side terminals via the communication network and transfers the data to the instructor side terminal;
A second communication control device provided for each of the plurality of student side terminals, wherein the communication network between the corresponding student side terminal and the first communication control device is provided. A second communication control device that mediates communication via
With
The first communication control device includes:
Of the data transmitted from the instructor side terminal, the first process for always transferring the data indicating the voice of the instructor to each student side terminal;
When receiving notification from the instructor side terminal that data is received from the plurality of student side terminals, or from the reception status of the data transmitted from the instructor side terminal by the first communication control device, the instructor side When it is detected that the data transmission by the terminal is completed, a second process of transmitting a permission instruction for permitting the transmission of data to one or a plurality of the attendee terminals is performed.
Each of the plurality of second communication control devices includes:
Until the permission instruction transmitted to the corresponding student side terminal is received, the transmission of data by the student side terminal is suspended, and the suspension is released when the permission instruction is received. A featured distance lecture system. The first communication control device includes:
Measuring means for measuring a communication band that can be allocated to data communication between the instructor side terminal and each student side terminal in the communication network;
Of the data received from the instructor-side terminal, the audio data indicating the audio of the instructor is always sent to the communication network, while the data indicating the video of the instructor or the video of the lecture material is measured by the measuring means. 2. The distance learning system according to claim 1, wherein when the communication band exceeds a predetermined threshold, both or a predetermined one is transmitted to the communication network. Each of the plurality of second communication control devices includes:
Measuring means for measuring a communication band that can be allocated to data communication between the instructor side terminal and each student side terminal in the communication network;
On the condition that the injunction is released, voice data indicating the voice of the student who is the user of the student side terminal among the data received from the corresponding student side terminal is always sent to the communication network. On the other hand, for the data indicating the video of the student or the video of the lecture material, when the communication band measured by the measuring means exceeds a predetermined threshold, both or a predetermined one is The distance learning system according to claim 1, wherein the distance learning system is transmitted to a communication network. The lecturer's voice, the lecturer's video, and the data indicating the lecture material video are received from the lecturer side terminal used by the lecturer and transferred to each of the plurality of student side terminals via the communication network. In a communication control device that executes processing for receiving data transmitted from each of the person side terminals via the communication network and transferring the data to the instructor side terminal,
Among the data transmitted from the instructor side terminal, the data indicating the voice of the instructor is always transferred to each of the student side terminals, and data from the plurality of student side terminals is accepted. Is transmitted from the instructor side terminal, or data transmission by the instructor side terminal is detected from the reception status of the data transmitted from the instructor side terminal by the communication control device. A control unit that transmits a permission instruction for permitting the permission to one or a plurality of student side terminals, and executes a second process for urging data transmission to the instructor side terminal. . Data indicating each of the lecturer's voice, the lecturer's video, and the lecture material video, received from the lecturer-side terminal used by the lecturer via a communication network, and received by the lecturer In the communication control device that executes processing for transmitting data received from the student side terminal to the communication network while transferring to the student side terminal used by the student,
Until the permission instruction for permitting the student side terminal to transmit data is received via the communication network, the transmission of data by the student side terminal is stopped while the permission instruction is received. A communication control apparatus comprising: control means for releasing the injunction as an opportunity. Computer equipment,
The lecturer's voice, the lecturer's video, and the data indicating the lecture material video are received from the lecturer side terminal used by the lecturer and transferred to each of the plurality of student side terminals via the communication network. In a program for executing processing of receiving data transmitted from each of the person side terminals via the communication network and transferring the data to the instructor side terminal,
In the computer device,
Of the data transmitted from the instructor side terminal, the data indicating the voice of the instructor is always transferred to each student side terminal,
Data received by the instructor side terminal when receiving an instruction to accept data from the plurality of instructor side terminals from the instructor side terminal or from the reception status of the data transmitted from the instructor side terminal by the communication control device A second process for transmitting a permission instruction to permit transmission of data to one or a plurality of student side terminals when it is detected that transmission has been completed, and urging data transmission to the instructor side terminal;
A program characterized in that is executed. Computer equipment,
Data indicating each of the lecturer's voice, the lecturer's video, and the lecture material video, received from the lecturer-side terminal used by the lecturer via a communication network, and received by the lecturer In a program for executing processing to transmit data received from the student side terminal to the communication network while transferring to the student side terminal used by the student,
In the computer device,
Until receiving an instruction to allow the student side terminal to transmit data via the communication network, a process for stopping transmission of data by the student side terminal;
A process of releasing the injunction upon receiving the permission instruction;
A program characterized in that is executed.

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