JP2009094630A - Distribution system and method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a distribution system and distribution method, enabling a user of a communication terminal to listen to the speech of a user of another communication terminal even during the speech of himself/herself by interrupting only the speech of himself/herself in the communication terminal, and capable of maintaining the voice quality. <P>SOLUTION: In this distribution system, a distribution server transmits the following data to each communication terminal: distribution voice data in which the input voice data generated in the distribution server and the terminal voice data transmitted from each communication terminal are allocated for each channel, and allocation information indicating the contents of the allocation. On the other hand, each communication terminal emits distribution voice data of a channel other than the channel to which the terminal voice data of the terminal data transmitted of its own communication terminal are allocated on the basis of the allocation information. In this way, the user of the communication terminal can listen to the speech other than the speech of himself/herself. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for improving the quality of voice when data is distributed to a distribution server and a communication terminal, and communication between users of the distribution server and the communication terminal is performed.

  In a system that distributes television broadcasting to each communication terminal via a communication network, communication may be performed between a distribution-side distribution server and a reception-side communication terminal. At this time, an echo canceller for canceling an echo generated from acoustic coupling between a microphone and a speaker in the distribution server or the communication terminal is provided to maintain the quality of the voice.

By the way, in the case of a system in which the distribution server distributes the communication status to each communication terminal via the communication network, the communication status can be viewed by other parties than the communication party. It may be affected by delays that occur when distributed over the network. For example, the voice of the user of the communication terminal included in the voice of the television broadcast may arrive after being uttered by the user himself / herself, and there is a sense of incongruity and the quality of the voice is deteriorated due to acoustic coupling. was there. In order to improve such quality deterioration, while the user of the communication terminal speaks, the voice data from each communication terminal distributed from the distribution server to the communication terminal is blocked and released. A technique for preventing sound from being disclosed is disclosed (for example, Patent Document 1).
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 3-18130

  However, in the technique described in Patent Document 1, when users of a plurality of communication terminals speak, not only the voice data related to their statements is blocked at the communication terminal but also users of other communication terminals. Since the voice data related to the utterance is also blocked, only the voice from the distribution server can be heard while the user of the communication terminal speaks.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and by listening only to the speech of the user of the communication terminal at the communication terminal, the speech of the user of another communication terminal can be heard even during the speech. An object of the present invention is to provide a distribution system and a distribution method that can maintain voice quality.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the present invention provides a distribution system including a distribution server that performs communication via a communication network and a plurality of communication terminals. Distribution voice data transmitting means for transmitting the distribution voice data configured; terminal voice data receiving means for receiving terminal voice data from the communication terminal; voice data input means for receiving streaming-format voice data; Allocating means for allocating each of the voice data input to the voice data input means and the terminal voice data for each communication terminal received by the terminal voice data receiving means to each of the plurality of channels of the distributed voice data. The communication terminal includes terminal voice data input means for inputting terminal voice data in a streaming format, Terminal voice data transmitting means for transmitting terminal voice data input to the terminal voice data input means to the distribution server, receiving means for receiving distribution voice data from the distribution server, and distribution voice data received by the receiving means Among the plurality of channels, the specifying means for specifying the channel to which the terminal voice data transmitted by the terminal voice data transmitting means is allocated, and the specifying means among the plurality of channels of the distribution voice data received by the receiving means Output means for outputting delivery audio data of a channel other than the specified channel.

  In another preferred aspect, when receiving the terminal voice data, the terminal voice data receiving means further receives terminal information specifying a communication terminal that has transmitted the terminal voice data, and the distributed voice data transmitting means Generates allocation information in which the channel allocated to the terminal voice data by the allocation means is associated with the communication terminal that has transmitted the terminal voice data, and further transmits the allocation information to the communication terminal, The voice data transmitting means further transmits terminal information for specifying its own terminal to the distribution server when transmitting terminal voice data, the receiving means further receives allocation information from the distribution server, and the specifying means The channel may be specified based on the allocation information received by the receiving means.

  In another preferred embodiment, the channel in the specifying unit is specified by the voice pattern indicated by each of a plurality of channels of the distribution voice data received by the receiving unit and the terminal voice data transmitted by the terminal voice data transmitting unit. May be performed based on a comparison with the voice pattern indicated by.

  In another preferred aspect, the allocating means includes, for each of the terminal voice data satisfying a predetermined condition among the terminal voice data for each communication terminal received by the terminal voice data receiving means, It may be assigned to each of a plurality of channels.

  In another preferred aspect, the allocating means includes, for each of the terminal voice data satisfying a predetermined condition among the terminal voice data for each communication terminal received by the terminal voice data receiving means, Terminal audio data that is assigned to each of a plurality of channels and does not satisfy a predetermined condition may be assigned to one channel as synthesized data of audio data that does not satisfy the predetermined condition.

  In addition, the present invention is a method used in a distribution system having a distribution server and a plurality of communication terminals that communicate via a communication network, and the method used in the distribution server is for the communication terminal, Distribution audio data transmission process for transmitting distribution audio data composed of a plurality of channels, terminal audio data reception process for receiving terminal audio data from the communication terminal, and audio data input for receiving audio data in streaming format Assigning to each of a plurality of channels of the distributed audio data for each of the audio data input in the audio data input process and the terminal audio data for each communication terminal received in the terminal audio data receiving process And the communication terminal receives streaming terminal audio data. Terminal voice data input process, terminal voice data transmission process for transmitting terminal voice data input in the terminal voice data input process to the distribution server, reception process for receiving distribution voice data from the distribution server, and the reception Among a plurality of channels of distribution voice data received by the process, a specifying process for identifying a channel to which the terminal voice data transmitted by the terminal voice data transmission process is assigned, and a distribution voice data received by the reception process And providing an output process of outputting distribution audio data of a channel other than the channel specified by the specifying process among the plurality of channels.

  According to the present invention, by blocking only the communication terminal user's remarks at the communication terminal, it is possible to hear the remarks of other communication terminal users even during remarks and to maintain the voice quality. It is possible to provide a distribution system and a distribution method capable of performing the above.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

<Embodiment>
As shown in FIG. 1, the distribution system according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a distribution server 1 and communication terminals 2-A and 2-B as a plurality of communication terminals. Hereinafter, when the communication terminal 2-A and the communication terminal 2-B are not distinguished, they are simply referred to as the communication terminal 2. The distribution server 1 and the communication terminal 2 are connected via the communication network 1000 and transmit / receive various data. The distribution server 1 can perform multicast communication with the plurality of communication terminals 2. Hereinafter, configurations of the distribution server 1 and the communication terminal 2 will be described in order.

  The distribution server 1 includes a control unit having a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and the like (not shown), and the CPU loads a program stored in the ROM into the RAM. And execute. As shown in FIG. 2, the distribution server 1 includes a communication unit 10, an audio output unit 12, and an audio input unit 13, and a decoding unit 11, a channel allocation unit 14, and an encoding unit 15 are configured by the CPU. Next, the distribution server 1 is controlled. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the distribution server 1.

  The communication unit 10 is a communication unit that transmits and receives data to and from the communication terminal 2 via the communication network 1000 by wire, wireless, or the like. In the present embodiment, distribution data is transmitted to the communication terminal 2 and terminal data is received from the communication terminal 2. The distribution data and terminal data will be described later.

  The decoding unit 11 decodes the terminal data received from the communication terminal 2 by the communication unit 10. The terminal data includes terminal voice data encoded in the communication terminal 2 and terminal information for specifying the communication terminal 2 that has transmitted the terminal data, as will be described later. The decoding unit 11 generates terminal audio data and terminal information by decoding the terminal data, and outputs the terminal audio data to the audio output unit 12 and the channel allocation unit 14, and the channel allocation unit 14. The terminal information is also output in association with the terminal voice data.

  Here, when the communication unit 10 receives terminal data from a plurality of communication terminals 2, the decoding unit 11 outputs terminal voice data and terminal information by distinguishing each communication terminal 2.

  The audio output unit 12 includes sound emission means such as a speaker, and emits sound based on terminal audio data that is audio data input from the decoding unit 11. Further, when a plurality of terminal voice data are input, they are mixed and emitted. The voice input unit 13 includes a microphone that collects sound, generates input voice data that is audio data in a streaming format based on the collected sound of the microphone, and outputs the input voice data to the channel assignment unit 14. In this embodiment, the input audio data is audio data composed of two channels, an L channel and an R channel.

  The channel allocation unit 14 allocates the input audio data input from the audio input unit 13 and the terminal audio data input from the decoding unit 11 to different channels, respectively, and distributes distribution audio data that is audio data of a plurality of channels. Generate. Also, allocation information indicating the contents of each channel and the audio data allocated to the channel is generated. The contents of the audio data indicate, for terminal voice data, the communication terminal 2 that has transmitted the terminal data related to the terminal voice data. The communication terminal 2-A is the communication terminal A, and the communication terminal 2-B is the communication terminal B. It shall be indicated. The communication terminal 2 that has transmitted the terminal data is specified by the terminal information input from the decoding unit 11. On the other hand, for input audio data, the L channel is indicated as a distribution server L, and the R channel is indicated as a distribution server R.

  In this embodiment, it is assumed that the distribution audio data is composed of three channels, and the allocation information is generated as a table as shown in FIG. For example, FIG. 3A shows a case where terminal data is not transmitted from the communication terminal 2, and the channel 1 is assigned the L channel of the input audio data, and the channel 2 is assigned the R channel of the input audio data. Yes. At this time, channel 3 is unused because there is no data to be assigned.

  FIG. 3B shows a case where terminal data is transmitted from the communication terminal 2-A, and terminal voice data related to the terminal data transmitted from the communication terminal 2-A to the channel 3 in FIG. Is assigned. On the other hand, FIG. 3 (c) shows a case where terminal data is transmitted simultaneously from the communication terminals 2-A and 2-B. The channel 1 mixes the L channel and the R channel of the input audio data. Thus, terminal audio data related to the terminal data transmitted from the communication terminal 2-A is assigned to the channel 2, and terminal audio data related to the terminal data transmitted from the communication terminal 2-B is assigned to the channel 3. Are assigned to each. When terminal data is alternately transmitted from the communication terminals 2-A and 2-B, the respective terminal voice data may be alternately allocated to the channel 3 in FIG. As described above, the channel assignment unit 14 assigns each audio data to each channel according to the reception status of the terminal data from the communication terminal 2, and the assignment is performed as needed. Also changes from time to time depending on the assignment.

  Returning to FIG. 2, the description will be continued. The encoding unit 15 performs predetermined encoding on the distribution audio data input from the channel allocation unit 14 to generate distribution data. This distribution data also includes allocation information input from the channel allocation unit 14. The distribution data generated in the encoding unit 15 is output to the communication unit 10 and transmitted to each communication terminal 2. The above is the description of the configuration of the distribution server 1.

  Next, the configuration of the communication terminal 2 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the communication terminal 2.

  The decoding unit 21 decodes the distribution data received from the distribution server 1 by the communication unit 20. The distribution data has the distribution audio data and the allocation information subjected to the predetermined encoding as described above, and the decoding unit 21 generates the distribution audio data and the allocation information by decoding the distribution data. And output to the mute unit 26.

  The mute unit 26 assigns terminal voice data related to the terminal data transmitted by its own communication terminal 2 by specifying the channel corresponding to its own communication terminal 2 based on the assignment information input from the decoding unit 21. Identify the channel that was given. When the specified channel exists, the mute unit 26 outputs the distribution audio data of channels other than the specified channel among the plurality of channels of the distribution audio data input from the decoding unit 21 to the audio output unit 22. When the specified channel does not exist, the distribution audio data of all channels is output to the audio output unit 22. Hereinafter, the distribution audio data output from the mute unit 26 is referred to as output audio data.

  The sound output unit 22 has sound emitting means such as a speaker, and emits sound based on output sound data that is audio data of a plurality of channels input from the mute unit 26. Here, when only monophonic sound emission is supported, such as when there is only one speaker, the sound related to each channel included in the output audio data is mixed and emitted. On the other hand, in the case where a plurality of speakers are present, etc., when multi-channel sound emission is supported, a speaker that emits sound related to each channel may be set in advance.

  The audio input unit 23 includes a microphone that collects sound, generates terminal audio data that is streaming-format audio data based on the sound collected by the microphone, and outputs the generated terminal audio data to the encoding unit 25. The terminal information storage unit 24 is a storage unit that stores terminal information for specifying its own communication terminal 2.

  The encoding unit 25 performs predetermined encoding on the terminal voice data input from the voice input unit 23 to generate terminal data. Further, the encoding unit 25 reads the terminal information from the terminal information storage unit 24 and outputs the terminal data to the communication unit 20 so that the terminal information is included in the terminal data. Then, the communication unit 20 transmits terminal data to the distribution server 1. The above is the description of the configuration of the communication terminal 2.

  Next, the operation of the distribution system according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described. In this description, the user of the communication terminal 2-A is called user A, the user of the communication terminal 2-B is called user B, and the user of the distribution server 1 is called user C.

  A user C performs a live performance of a musical instrument (hereinafter referred to as a live performance) in a music studio where the distribution server 1 is installed. At this time, the user C operates an operation unit of the distribution server 1 (not shown) to cause the CPU to control the communication unit 10 to transmit distribution data while not receiving terminal data.

  The audio input unit 13 generates input audio data indicating audio (hereinafter referred to as live audio) recorded from the live performance and outputs the input audio data to the channel allocation unit 14. On the other hand, since the communication unit 10 does not receive terminal data, terminal voice data and terminal information are not input to the channel assignment unit 14. As a result, the channel allocation unit 14 outputs the distribution audio data in which the L channel of the live audio is allocated to the channel 1 and the R channel of the live audio is allocated to the channel 2 to the encoding unit 15, and as illustrated in FIG. Is generated and output to the encoding unit 15. Then, in the encoding unit 15, distribution data including data obtained by encoding the distribution audio data and the allocation information is transmitted to the communication terminals 2 -A and 2 -B through the communication unit 10.

  On the other hand, the communication unit 20 of the communication terminals 2-A and 2-B receives the distribution data, the decoding unit 21 performs decoding, and the mute unit 26 inputs the distribution audio data and the allocation information. The mute unit 26 refers to the allocation information and identifies the channel corresponding to its own communication terminal 2. However, since the input allocation information is allocation information as shown in FIG. 3 (a), the channel is identified. Without being performed, all of the plurality of channels of the distributed audio data are output as is to the audio output unit 22 as output audio data. Thereby, in the communication terminals 2-A and 2-B, the live sound is emitted in stereo, and the users A and B can enjoy the live sound.

  Then, the user C finishes the live performance and operates the operation unit of the distribution server 1 to communicate with the user A and the user B, and the communication unit 10 transmits the terminal data to the CPU. The reception is controlled. In addition, the user C proposes this to the users A and B via the voice input unit 13. Here, when the user A starts a conversation, the voice input unit 23 of the communication terminal 2-A has terminal voice data (hereinafter referred to as a terminal) indicating a voice (hereinafter referred to as a conversation voice A) in which the conversation of the user A is recorded. Audio data A) is generated and output to the encoding unit 25. The encoding unit 25 encodes the input terminal audio data A and reads terminal information indicating the communication terminal 2-A from the terminal information storage unit 24 to generate terminal data (hereinafter referred to as terminal data A). The terminal data A is transmitted to the distribution server 1 via the communication unit 20.

  The decoding unit 11 of the distribution server 1 decodes the terminal data A received by the communication unit 10 and outputs the terminal voice data A to the voice output unit 12 to emit the conversation voice A. The channel assignment unit 14 receives the terminal voice data A and the terminal information indicating the communication terminal 2-A from the decoding unit 11, while the voice recording the conversation of the user C (hereinafter referred to as conversation voice C). ) Is input from the voice input unit 13.

  When the terminal voice data A is newly input, the channel allocation unit 14 allocates the terminal voice data A to the channel 3 of the distribution voice data and generates allocation information as shown in FIG. Output to the encoding unit 15. The distribution data output by the encoding unit 15 is transmitted to the communication terminals 2-A and 2-B via the communication unit 10.

  When the communication terminal 2-A receives the distribution data from the distribution server 1, the mute unit 26 receives the allocation information and distribution audio data shown in FIG. The mute unit 26 refers to the allocation information, specifies that the channel indicating its communication terminal 2-A is channel 3, and among the plurality of channels of the distribution audio data, the channel to which the terminal audio data A is allocated 3 is output, and output audio data having channels 1 and 2 other than channel 3 is output to the audio output unit 22. Thereby, since the conversation voice C is emitted from the voice output unit 22 and the conversation voice A which is the conversation of the user A is not emitted, the user A does not listen in a state where his / her speech is delayed. Since it is good, there is no sense of incongruity and the quality of the voice is not deteriorated.

  On the other hand, in the communication terminal 2-B, the mute unit 26 does not specify a channel indicating its own communication terminal 2-B even if referring to the allocation information. And the conversation voice C are emitted, and the conversation between the user A and the user C can be heard.

  Next, the user B also starts a conversation, records the conversation voice (hereinafter referred to as conversation voice B) from the voice input unit 23 in the communication terminal 2-B, and records terminal voice data (hereinafter referred to as terminal voice data B). Is input to the channel assignment unit 14 in the distribution server 1 from the audio input unit 13 and the communication terminal 2-A is received from the decoding unit 11. A set of terminal information and terminal voice data A shown, and a set of terminal information and terminal voice data B showing the communication terminal 2-B are input. As a result, the channel allocation unit 14 generates distribution audio data in which the data obtained by mixing the L channel and the R channel of the input audio data is assigned to channel 1, the terminal audio data A is assigned to channel 2, and the terminal audio data B is assigned to channel 3. At the same time, the allocation information shown in FIG.

  Then, in the distribution server 1, conversation voice A and conversation voice B are emitted, conversation voice B and conversation voice C are emitted in the communication terminal 2-A, and conversation voice is emitted in the communication terminal 2-B. By A and conversation voice C being emitted, users A, B, and C can hear voices other than their own speech.

  Note that if the user A stops speaking for a predetermined time, the terminal voice data A may not be input to the channel assignment unit 14 of the distribution server 1. This is because the channel allocation unit 14 determines that the user A is not speaking when the volume of the conversation voice A indicated by the terminal voice data A on the distribution server 1 side continues for a predetermined time or longer. The terminal data may not be transmitted from the communication unit 20 as determined on the communication terminal 2-A side. When the terminal voice data input to the channel allocation unit 14 is only the terminal voice data B, channel 1 is the L channel of the input voice data, channel 2 is the R channel of the input voice data, and channel 3 is the terminal. The allocation information of the channel may be changed as needed by generating the allocation information in which the content of the channel 3 in FIG.

  As described above, in the distribution system of the present invention, the distribution server 1 includes the distribution audio data in which the input audio data generated in the distribution server 1 and the terminal audio data transmitted from each communication terminal 2 are allocated for each channel; The allocation information indicating the content of the allocation is transmitted to each communication terminal 2. On the other hand, each communication terminal 2 emits the distribution voice data of a channel other than the channel to which the terminal voice data related to the terminal data transmitted by its own communication terminal 2 is transmitted based on the allocation information, thereby performing the communication. The user of the terminal 2 can hear a sound other than his / her speech. Thereby, the user can maintain the quality of the voice related to the communication between the user of the distribution server 1 and the user of the communication terminal 2 without causing discomfort.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention can be implemented in various aspects as follows.

<Modification 1>
In the embodiment described above, the communication terminal 2 transmits the terminal information and receives the allocation information, so that the mute unit 26 of the communication terminal 2 receives the distribution audio data received from the distribution server 1 based on the allocation information. Among the plurality of channels, the channel to which the terminal voice data related to the terminal data transmitted by the own communication terminal 2 is identified, but the channel information may be identified by another method without using the terminal information and the allocation information. Good.

  For example, an analysis unit 27 is provided in the communication terminal 2 as shown in FIG. The analysis unit 27 receives terminal audio data from the audio input unit 23 and receives distribution audio data from the decoding unit 21. Then, by comparing the audio pattern of each channel of the distribution audio data with the audio pattern of the terminal audio data, whether or not there is a channel to which this terminal audio data is allocated among a plurality of channels of the distribution audio data And, if there is, the channel is specified. Such voice pattern comparison is performed by using a spectrum such as a volume change of the voice related to the terminal voice data, a frequency distribution, etc., and both spectra match or a similarity indicating a degree of similarity is a predetermined value or more. If so, they should be considered identical.

  At this time, there is a time delay due to processing delay and communication delay from when the terminal voice data is input from the voice input unit 23 to the analysis unit 27 until it is input as distribution voice data from the decoding unit 21 to the analysis unit 27. Therefore, the terminal audio data input from the audio input unit 23 to the analysis unit 27 is subjected to a delay process corresponding to the time delay, and then each channel of the distribution audio data input from the decode unit 21 is processed. It is desirable to compare the sound pattern. The analysis unit 27 stores a predetermined section such as the first few seconds of the terminal audio data input from the audio input unit 23, stores the audio pattern of each channel of the distribution audio data input from the decoding unit 21, and the storage The audio patterns of the terminal audio data in the predetermined section may be compared, and the channels that can be regarded as the same may be specified.

  As described above, the terminal voice data generated by the voice input unit 23 is compared with the voice pattern of each channel of the delivery voice data output from the decoding unit 21, thereby relating to the terminal data transmitted by the own communication terminal 2. If the channel to which the terminal voice data is allocated is specified, the same effect as the embodiment can be obtained without using the terminal information and the allocation information.

<Modification 2>
In the above-described embodiment, the user C operates the operation unit of the distribution server 1 to control whether the distribution server 1 receives terminal data transmitted from each communication terminal 2 and can receive the data. In the state, the terminal data from all the communication terminals 2 can be received. However, the targets of the communication terminals 2 that can receive the terminal data may be limited. This may limit the communication terminal 2 by operating the operation unit of the distribution server 1, or may limit the number of target communication terminals 2 according to the number of channels of the distribution audio data. .

  When limiting according to the number of channels, for example, when the number of channels is 6, the number of communication terminals 2 should be 5 because it is sufficient to secure at least one channel for input audio data of the distribution server 1. If restricted, channels can be assigned to all terminal audio data. If three channels for input audio data are required, the number of communication terminals 2 may be limited to two. When such a restriction is performed, each communication terminal 2 and an assigned channel may be set in advance. At this time, if the number of channels necessary for input audio data does not change by a fixed number, the contents of the allocation information can be fixed.

<Modification 3>
In the above-described embodiment, since there are two communication terminals 2, that is, the communication terminals 2 -A and 2-B, even if the distribution server 1 receives the terminal data at the same time, the channel assignment unit 14 does not receive the respective terminal voices. Data could be assigned to each channel, but when the number of communication terminals 2 is larger, the following may be performed.

  First, as a first method, for a plurality of terminal audio data input to the channel allocation unit 14, the number of channels that can be allocated (maximum 2 channels in the embodiment) based on the volume level of the terminal audio data is as follows. You just need to identify the data. For example, it is only necessary to specify and assign two terminal voice data from the higher volume level. Further, among the periods from the predetermined time before the allocation time point to the allocation time point, the volume level may be assigned in the descending order of the volume level, or the average sound volume level may be assigned in the descending order. Also good. Then, this assignment may be performed every predetermined time or in real time. That is, a predetermined condition is provided, and terminal voice data that is not allocated without satisfying the condition may be excluded without being included in the distribution voice data. Note that the predetermined condition is not limited to the condition based on the volume level, and any condition may be used as long as the condition is based on a physical quantity that can be extracted from the terminal voice data.

  As a second method, a predetermined condition is set in the same manner as the first method. For terminal voice data that satisfies the condition, one channel is allocated, and for the remaining terminal voice data that does not satisfy the condition, These data may be combined so that one channel is assigned collectively. For example, the terminal audio data with the maximum volume level may be assigned to one channel, and the remaining terminal audio data may be combined by mixing or the like and collectively assigned to one channel. And about the communication terminal 2 which transmitted the terminal audio | voice data allocated collectively, the channel may be output to the audio | voice output part 22 based on allocation information, and you may make it not output. Even if the sound is output to the sound output unit 22, if the volume level is low, the deterioration of the sound quality can be reduced.

  As a third method, when the channels are assigned together as in the second method, one channel of the distribution audio data is divided in the time axis direction, and each of the plurality of terminal audio data is alternately assigned to each of the divided channels. You may make it allocate to. In this case, each of the plurality of terminal audio data may be compressed and allocated in the time axis direction so that no data loss in the time axis direction occurs. For example, when allocating two terminal audio data to one channel, each terminal audio data is divided by 1 second, and each divided 1-second terminal audio data is compressed twice in the time axis direction to 0. The terminal voice data may be assigned every 5 seconds and alternately assigned to one channel. In this case, the allocation information is changed every 0.5 seconds. Then, the mute unit 26 in the communication terminal 2 expands the terminal voice data compressed to 0.5 seconds to 1 second, and outputs to the voice output unit 22 other than the terminal voice data related to the terminal data transmitted by itself. What should I do? In this way, the number of channels can be effectively increased.

<Modification 4>
In the above-described embodiment, an echo canceller circuit is provided in the voice input unit 13 in order to prevent echo from being generated due to voice coupling caused by the sound output from the voice output unit 12 being collected by the microphone of the voice input unit 13. It may be provided.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the connection relation of the delivery server and communication terminal in the delivery system which concerns on embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the delivery server which concerns on embodiment. It is explanatory drawing of the content of the allocation information which concerns on embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the communication terminal which concerns on embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the communication terminal which concerns on the modification 1.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Distribution server, 2, 2-A, 2-B ... Communication terminal 10, 20 ... Communication part, 11, 21 ... Decoding part, 12, 22 ... Audio | voice output part, 13, 23 ... Audio | voice input part, 14 ... Channel allocation unit, 15, 25 ... Encoding unit, 24 ... Terminal information storage unit, 26 ... Mute unit, 27 ... Analysis unit, 1000 ... Communication network

Claims (6)

In a distribution system having a distribution server that communicates via a communication network and a plurality of communication terminals,
The distribution server
Distribution audio data transmitting means for transmitting distribution audio data constituted by a plurality of channels to the communication terminal;
Terminal voice data receiving means for receiving terminal voice data from the communication terminal;
Audio data input means for inputting audio data in a streaming format;
Allocating means for allocating each of the voice data input to the voice data input means and the terminal voice data for each communication terminal received by the terminal voice data receiving means to each of a plurality of channels of the distributed voice data. And
The communication terminal is
Terminal voice data input means for inputting terminal voice data in a streaming format;
Terminal voice data transmitting means for transmitting terminal voice data input to the terminal voice data input means to the distribution server;
Receiving means for receiving distribution audio data from the distribution server;
A specifying unit for specifying a channel to which the terminal voice data transmitted by the terminal voice data transmitting unit is allocated among a plurality of channels of the distribution voice data received by the receiving unit;
A distribution system comprising: output means for outputting distribution audio data of a channel other than the channel specified by the specifying means among a plurality of channels of the distribution audio data received by the receiving means. When receiving the terminal voice data, the terminal voice data receiving means further receives terminal information specifying a communication terminal that has transmitted the terminal voice data;
The delivery voice data transmitting unit generates allocation information in which the channel allocated to the terminal voice data by the allocation unit is associated with the communication terminal that has transmitted the terminal voice data, and the allocation information is transmitted to the communication terminal. Send more,
When transmitting the terminal voice data, the terminal voice data transmitting means further transmits terminal information for identifying the terminal itself to the distribution server,
The receiving means further receives allocation information from the distribution server;
2. The distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the channel is specified by the specifying unit based on the allocation information received by the receiving unit. The specification of the channel in the specifying means is performed by comparing the sound pattern indicated by each of the plurality of channels of the distribution sound data received by the receiving means with the sound pattern indicated by the terminal sound data transmitted by the terminal sound data transmitting means. The distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the distribution system is based on. The assigning means assigns each of the terminal voice data satisfying a predetermined condition among the terminal voice data for each communication terminal received by the terminal voice data receiving means to each of the plurality of channels of the distribution voice data. The distribution system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: The assigning means assigns each of the terminal voice data satisfying a predetermined condition among the terminal voice data for each communication terminal received by the terminal voice data receiving means to each of the plurality of channels of the distribution voice data, 4. The distribution according to claim 1, wherein terminal audio data that does not satisfy a predetermined condition is assigned to one channel as synthesized data of audio data that does not satisfy the predetermined condition. 5. system. A method used in a distribution system having a distribution server and a plurality of communication terminals that communicate via a communication network,
The method used in the distribution server is:
A delivery voice data transmission process of sending delivery voice data composed of a plurality of channels to the communication terminal;
A terminal voice data receiving process for receiving terminal voice data from the communication terminal;
An audio data input process in which streaming audio data is input;
Assigning each of the voice data input in the voice data input process and the terminal voice data for each communication terminal received in the terminal voice data reception process to each of a plurality of channels of the distributed voice data; Prepared,
The communication terminal is
Terminal audio data input process in which streaming terminal audio data is input,
A terminal voice data transmission process for transmitting the terminal voice data input in the terminal voice data input process to the distribution server;
A receiving process of receiving distribution voice data from the distribution server;
A specifying step of identifying a channel to which the terminal voice data transmitted by the terminal voice data transmission step is assigned among a plurality of channels of the distribution voice data received by the reception step;
A distribution method comprising: an output process of outputting distribution audio data of a channel other than the channel specified by the specifying process among a plurality of channels of the distribution audio data received by the receiving process.

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