JP2010102258A - Recording system, recording method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To propose a recording system and the like for safely and efficiently recording statements of participants in a meetings, for example, and storing the statements in a server. <P>SOLUTION: The statements of the participants in the meeting are collected by a sound acquisition part 7i of a client 3i for each predetermined time and transmitted to the server in a real time basis. The footer of each recorded data contains hash values, for example as verification information. The hash value is calculated from the hash value of the recorded data transmitted to the server 5 just before and the recorded data to be transmitted newly. The name of each recording data includes the order of recording. When finishing recording, the client 3i transmits end directing data containing the hash value calculated from the lastly transmitted hash value but not containing the recorded data to the server 5. The server 5 verifies the recorded data received using the hash value, combines the series of recorded data, and stores it in a recorded data storage part 23. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a recording system, a recording method, and a program, and more particularly, to a recording system including a server that continuously receives and stores a plurality of recording data sequentially acquired by sound acquisition means.

  It is known that audio collected in a client is stored in a server (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The applicant has so far recorded, for example, the speech of the participants in the conference on the personal computer (PC) as the client, written it out to a file, processed the format conversion etc. after recording, and uploaded it to the server Technology has been developed (hereinafter referred to as the “conventional method”).

JP 2007-298776 A

  However, in the conventional method, format conversion is performed at the time when the voice recording is completed in the client PC, and is transmitted to the server. Therefore, the recorded data is stored in the client PC for a long time, and the amount of data has to be large.

  Since the recorded data becomes large and is stored in the client PC for a long time, the recorded data cannot be processed in the memory on the client PC, and is written as a file on the hard disk. It was. Therefore, the user of the client PC can easily access and copy the file, and can further tamper with the file. Moreover, since large data is stored, the burden on the client PC must be large.

  Further, for example, before the voice recording process is finished and transmitted to the server, the client PC is terminated due to the end of the conference, the client PC has a failure, or the communication between the client PC and the server has a failure. In some cases, uploading to the server may not be possible.

  Furthermore, since a large amount of data is uploaded to the server at the end of recording, the communication time increases, and it is necessary for the server to process the large data. Therefore, the waiting time until recording becomes available on the server after recording is unavoidably long. This is a more serious problem, particularly when there are a plurality of clients, since a large amount of large data reaches the server at the same time.

  Therefore, the present invention has an object of proposing a recording system or the like that can record, for example, the speech of a participant in a conference and save it on a server, more safely and efficiently than the conventional method.

  The invention according to claim 1 is a recording system including a server that receives and stores a plurality of recording data sequentially acquired by the sound acquisition unit, and each recording data is included in the recording data acquired first. The verification information that can verify the recording data is added, and the recording information acquired for the second and subsequent recordings can be verified with the verification information added to the recording data acquired immediately before The server receives end instruction data including verification information that does not include the recording data and that can verify the verification information added to the recording data acquired last, For the recording data acquired first, the recording data is verified using the verification information added to the recording data. For the recording data acquired for the second time and thereafter, the recording data Using the verification information added to the recording data, the verification information added to the previously acquired recording data and the verification means for verifying the recording data are combined with the recording data after the verification processing by the verification means When the recording data after the combination processing by the combining unit is stored in the combining unit and the recording data storage unit and the end instruction data is received, or when no new recording data is received within a predetermined time In addition, a storage means for storing the last received verification information in the recording data storage means is provided.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the recording system according to claim 1, wherein an order can be specified for the first acquired recording data, the second and subsequent acquired recording data, and the end instruction data. Order information is added, and the recording data acquired after the second and the end instruction data are added with the verification information added to the previously acquired recording data, and the verification means , With respect to each of the recording data acquired after the second and the end instruction data, verification information added to the recording data that was previously acquired by the order information of the data, and the data The verification information added to the recording data acquired immediately before is added and compared.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the recording system according to claim 1 or 2, comprising a client, wherein the client receives the sound acquisition means and each recording data acquired by the sound acquisition means. Transmitting to the server within a predetermined time from the time when the recording data was acquired, and transmitting the end instruction data to the server within a predetermined time from the time when all the recording data was transmitted to the server Means, a first storage device, and a central processing unit having a second storage device whose access speed is slower than that of the first storage device, and the sound acquisition means divides the acquired sound. The plurality of recording data are sequentially set, and the second storage device does not store the recording data, and the verification information added to the last acquired recording data or the end instruction data In which the verification information is stored.

  The invention according to claim 4 is the recording system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the server adjusts the recording data analyzed by the analysis means, and analysis means for analyzing the recording data. Adjusting means, and the recording data storage means includes recorded data after processing on the recording data adjusted by the adjusting means by the combining means, or after combining processing by the combining means by the adjusting means The recorded data after adjustment for the recorded data is stored.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the recording system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the server sends the recording data stored in the recording data storage means to the user. Presenting means for presenting together with other information related to data is provided.

  The invention according to claim 6 is a recording method in an information processing apparatus for receiving and storing a plurality of recording data sequentially acquired by a sound acquisition means, wherein each recording data is acquired first. The verification information that can verify the recording data is added, and the recording data acquired after the second can verify the verification information added to the recording data acquired immediately before and the recording data. The verification information is added, and the information processing apparatus receives the end instruction data including verification information that does not include the recording data and can verify the verification information added to the recording data acquired immediately before. The verification unit verifies the recording data using the verification information added to the recording data with respect to the recording data acquired first, and the storage unit combines the recording data with the combined data. And when the verification means is the next recording data of the combined data stored in the recording data storage means, the recording Using the verification information added to the data, the verification information added to the previously acquired recording data and the recording data are verified, and the combining unit applies the combined data stored in the recording data storage unit to the combined data. When the recording data is combined into new combined data, and the storage means receives the step of storing the new combined data instead of the combined data stored in the recording data storage means, and the end instruction data, or A step of storing the last received verification information in the recording data storage unit when new recording data is not received within a predetermined time. It is intended to include.

  The invention according to claim 7 is a program for causing a computer to function as the server according to any one of claims 1 to 5 or the client according to claim 3.

  Note that the present invention may be regarded as a computer-readable recording medium that records a server, a client, or a program, for example.

  In the invention according to claim 1, the combining means may be any means that performs the combining process before the storing process for the plurality of recording data received by the storing means. For example, when the verification process of the recording data is completed by the verification unit, the combination process may be performed sequentially, or the combination process may be performed immediately before the storage process, and the end The combination process may be sequentially performed until the instruction data is received, and the combination process may be performed collectively after the end instruction data is received.

  Furthermore, the format of the recording data received by the server may be specialized in audio and relatively small in size, such as the SPEEX format. With such data, it is possible to reduce the burden of communication and processing. Further, the format of the recording data in the recording data storage means may be an easily usable one such as the MP3 format. As described above, by appropriately converting the format of the recorded data, it is possible to perform the use preparation processing such as communication, combination, and storage, and the processing using this more efficiently.

  According to the invention according to each claim of the present application (hereinafter referred to as “the present invention”), each recording data includes verification information (for example, a hash value) added to the recording data acquired before that Verification information that can verify the recorded data is included. Therefore, the verification information received at the end can verify all the recording data acquired before that. For this reason, it is possible to prevent falsification of each recorded data. Furthermore, as in the invention according to claim 2, the recording data and the end instruction data acquired after the second can specify the recording data acquired immediately before by the order information, and each data includes the immediately preceding recording data. By adding the verification information itself added to the data, the verification information can be calculated only from the data used for transmission and reception, and the server side also performs verification processing for alteration by order information and verification information and saves recorded data Processing can be more secure, efficient and sophisticated.

  Further, according to the present invention, a certain amount of data is processed at any time and uploaded to the server. Therefore, as in the invention according to claim 3, the client processes the recorded data on a first storage device (for example, a memory) having a high access speed, and a second storage device having a low access speed (for example, a memory). For example, it is possible to perform processing without writing as a file to a hard disk drive or the like. Therefore, the burden on the hard disk drive or the like in the client can be reduced. In addition, falsification of recorded data becomes even more difficult due to occasional processing and storage area management.

  Furthermore, recording data is uploaded to the server as needed. Since uploading is also performed during recording, the processing in the server is performed during recording, and the waiting time for processing after recording is dramatically shortened. Furthermore, even when the recording data transmission from the client is interrupted due to the interruption of the network or the termination of the client, the server can store the already recorded recording data.

  Thus, according to the present invention, it is not necessary to store the recording data in the client, and the recording data can be managed by the server. In addition, if there is an environment connected to the network, it is possible to record from anywhere.

  Further, according to the invention of claim 4, each recording data is analyzed by the analysis means, or a plurality of recording data is compared and analyzed, and further, the recording data is adjusted by the adjustment means. The user of the server, for example, refers to the speech of each participant in the conference, listens to the speech with a uniform recording level, listens to the speech with the most clearly collected voice, and records data storage means The recorded data stored in can be used more comfortably.

  Furthermore, according to the invention which concerns on Claim 5, the user of a server can utilize the recording data of a meeting in connection with basic information, meeting materials, etc., such as a meeting name and a participant. .

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, this invention is not limited to the following Example.

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of a recording system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The recording system 1 collects and records the comments of a plurality of participants in a conference, for example, and includes a plurality of clients 3 ₁ ,..., 3 _N and a server 5. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline of processing in the client 3 _i and the server 5 for recording data collected in the client 3 _i (i is an integer from 1 to N). With reference to FIG.1 and FIG.2, an example of a structure and operation | movement of the recording system 1 is demonstrated.

The client 3 _i is, for example, a personal computer. With reference to FIG. 1, for example, a sound acquisition unit 7 _i that acquires a speech of a conference participant using a recording device (for example, a microphone), and a sound acquisition unit 7 at a predetermined time. a format converting unit 9 _i for converting a format of recording data collected by _i, and the information adding section 10 _i for adding information to the recording data converted by the format converting unit 9 _i, recording the information has been added A transmission unit 11 _i that transmits data to the server 5 in real time is provided.

The operation of the client 3 _i will be described more specifically with reference to FIG. In the sound acquisition unit 7 _i , the PCM data 51 acquired from the recording device is collected into data for a predetermined time (for example, about 5 to 10 seconds) in real time (see the PCM data 53). Then, the format converter 9 _i in FIG. 1 converts the format of the combined PCM data 53 into the SPEEX format (see SPX data 55). The information adding unit 10 _i adds a header and a footer to each SPX data 55 (see transmission data 57). The transmission unit 11 _i uploads the transmission data 57 to the server 5. Here, the header of the first recording data includes recording start time information and user information, and the footer includes a hash value created from the header and the recording data portion. The header of the second and subsequent recorded data includes the footer of the previous data, and the footer includes a hash value created from the header and the recorded data portion. When the recording is finished, the information adding unit 10 _i generates no transmission data, and transmission / reception data including a header and a footer is generated and transmitted by the transmission unit 11 _i . It is assumed that, for example, data name (file name or the like) of each transmission data 57 includes order information indicating what number the transmission data 57 is.

Further, in the client 3 _i , the recording data of the PCM data 51, the PCM data 53, the SPX data 55, and the transmission data 57 in FIG. 2 is processed on the memory without being written to the hard disk drive. Of the transmission data 57, the footer is used to create the next transmission data, and is therefore held until the next transmission data is created. In this embodiment, the hash value of each footer is calculated from the previous hash value and recorded data. For this reason, the hash value of the last footer is information that can verify all of the series of recorded data. Therefore, it can be stored in the client 3 _i and used to prevent falsification of recorded data in the server 5. Therefore, the last footer may be stored in the client 3 _i and used for verification of the recorded data stored in the server 5. In addition, the recording start time included in the first header can be stored in the client 3 _i and used for preventing falsification.

The processing in the client 3 _i is sequentially performed in real time after recording data is acquired. Therefore, there is no need to store recording data in the client 3 _i . Further, a certain amount of data is processed at any time, converted into a relatively small SPEEX format, and uploaded to the server 5. Therefore, it is possible to perform all processing on the memory without writing the recording data to a file, and the burden on the hard disk drive can be reduced in the client 3 _i . In addition, it is difficult to alter the recorded data. Furthermore, since the recording data is managed by the server 5, recording can be performed from anywhere as long as the environment is connected to the network.

Server 5 with reference to FIG. 1, a receiving section 13 for sequentially receiving a plurality of recording data transmitted from the transmitting unit 11 _i of each client 3 _i, verified by using the hash value added to the recorded data A verification unit 15 that performs processing, a format conversion unit 17 that converts the formats of a plurality of recording data received by the reception unit 13, a processing unit 19 that analyzes and processes the recording data, and a recording data combination process A coupling unit 20 and a storage unit 21 that stores the recording data in the recording data storage unit 23 are provided.

  The operation of the server 5 will be described more specifically with reference to FIG. In the server 5, the reception data 61 received by the reception unit 13 is stored, for example, in a directory (for example, / record ID / tmp /) classified by the record ID of the recording data storage unit 23. The verification unit 15 sequentially verifies the received data 61 received. The format conversion unit 17 converts the format of the recording data of the reception data 61 (see PCM data 63). Similarly, the PCM data 63 is stored in a directory classified by the record ID. Then, the combining unit 20 combines the PCM data 63 to generate PCM data 65. The storage unit 21 stores the PCM data 65 in the recording data storage unit 23. Similarly, the PCM data 65 is stored in a directory classified by the record ID. Further, the storage unit 21 converts the format of the PCM data 65 into the MP3 format at the end of recording or at the time of interruption, and stores the MP3 data and the final footer in the recording data storage unit 23 (see storage data 67). Similarly, the storage data 67 is stored in a directory classified by the record ID. The hash value of the final footer is created from a whole series of recorded data. Therefore, this makes it possible to verify a series of recorded data later. Further, by storing the received reception data 61, more accurate verification can be performed. The intermediate PCM data 63 and PCM data 65 are discarded without being saved in this embodiment because the data size is large.

  The combining unit 20 may be any unit that performs a combining process before the storing process for the plurality of recording data received by the storing unit 21. For example, when the verification processing of the recording data is completed by the verification unit 15, the combination processing may be performed sequentially, or the combination processing may be performed collectively immediately before the storage processing. The combination process may be sequentially performed until the end instruction data is received, and the combination process may be performed collectively after the end instruction data is received.

  Moreover, the format of each data is an example, and is not limited to these formats.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the server 5 of FIG. When the reception unit 13 receives the first recording data, the verification unit 15 performs a verification process using the footer hash value of the received recording data (step ST1), and stores the header information (step ST2). . Then, the format conversion unit 17 converts the recorded data into the PCM format, and the storage unit 21 stores this as combined data in the recorded data storage unit 23 (step ST3).

  Then, loop processing from step ST4 to step ST11 is performed with the end condition that the data reception has timed out. Specifically, it is determined whether or not a storage process has been performed on the next data after the combined data as the combined data in step ST5 (step ST5). Return.

  When the storage process of the next data has been completed, the verification unit 15 performs a verification process from the hash value included in the header of the data, the footer of the previous data, and the hash value (step ST6), and the footer of the data The verification process is performed using the hash value (step ST7). Then, it is determined whether or not the recording data is included in the data (step ST8). If the recording data is included, the format conversion unit 17 converts the recording data into the PCM format (step ST9), and the combining unit 20 combines the PCM data with the combined data to form new combined data, and the storage unit 21 stores the new combined data in the recorded data storage unit 23 (step ST10).

  When reception of data as a loop termination condition times out, or when it is determined that the recording data is not included in the determination process of step ST8, the storage unit 21 stores the last data in the recording data storage unit 23. The hash value included in the data footer is stored (step ST12). At this time, the storage unit 21 converts the combined data (PCM data 65) into the MP3 format and stores it.

  Subsequently, the operation of the processing unit 19 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 4, and 5. The processing unit 19 in FIG. 1 analyzes the recording data such as the SPX data of the received data 61 in FIG. 2, the PCM data 63, the PCM data 65, the MP3 data of the stored data 67, and the analysis by the analysis unit 25. An adjustment unit 27 for adjusting the recording data based on the result is provided.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a recording data analysis process performed by the analysis unit 25. FIG. 4 shows a case where a process for identifying a plurality of people in the same conference room is performed. Each speaker has a PC, this is assumed to be a client 3 _i. It is assumed that the utterances of the speaker 1 are collected not only by the microphone 1 installed in the vicinity thereof but also by the microphone 2 installed slightly apart. Similarly, it is assumed that the utterances of the speaker 2 are collected not only by the microphone 2 installed in the vicinity thereof but also by the microphone 1 installed at a distance. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4A, the speech of the speaker 1 is clearly recorded in the recording data collected by the microphone 1, but the speech of the speaker 2 is not so clearly recorded. Similarly, the speech of the speaker 2 is clearly recorded in the recording data collected by the microphone 2, but the speech of the speaker 1 is not so clearly recorded. The analysis unit 25 identifies the remarks of a plurality of persons for each recording data by using, for example, independent component analysis (ICA).

Furthermore, in order to perform speaker identification more accurately, information (for example, a cue point indicating a number assigned to each speaker or position information of each speaker) is set for each speaker. You may do it. For example, the analysis unit 25 is simultaneously collected based on the positional relationship between the speaker and the microphone, such as the possibility of recording the speaker's speech by the microphone, depending on the positional relationship such as the microphone and the speaker are not in the same room. Alternatively, the speaker may be specified by analyzing a plurality of recorded data. The sound acquisition unit 7 _i may collect recording data including information for identifying each speaker and transmit the collected data to the server 5. Further, such speaker identification is performed when the recorded data is reproduced, for example, as shown in FIG. 4B, the speech of speaker 1 is blue and the speech of speaker 2 is red. It is possible to assist in referring to a specific speaker by coloring the waveform and visually identifying the speaker.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the adjustment process of the recording data by the adjustment unit 27. As in the analysis unit 25 (a), the recording level of each speaker is non-uniform due to, for example, the positional relationship between each speaker and the recording device. Therefore, the adjustment unit 27 makes the recording levels of a plurality of speakers uniform, for example. As a result, the user of the saved data 67 can use it more comfortably.

Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, the analysis unit 25 extracts clearer data from the recording data recorded in parallel by the plurality of clients 3 ₁ ,..., 3 _N , and the adjustment unit 27 The recording data recorded in parallel may be integrated with clear recording data to create new recording data.

  Further, the analysis unit 25 may identify a sound that is not related to a speech, such as a keyboard typing sound or a mouse click sound, and the adjustment unit 27 may delete such a sound.

The processing unit 19 may be provided in the client 3 _i , for example, and may perform processing on the recording data collected by the sound acquisition unit 7 _i .

  The recording data storage unit 23 stores data such as SPX data 61 and storage data 67, for example. In addition, data after the processing by the processing unit 19 is stored.

  The server 5 also includes an item storage unit 28 that stores conference items for managing each conference, and a material data storage unit 29 that stores material data related to collected recording data, such as conference materials. The server 5 includes a presentation unit 31 that presents the recording data in the recording data storage unit 23 and the material data in the material data recording unit 29 in association with each other. Here, the material data is, for example, a file uploaded by a meeting organizer or a participant.

  In the recording system 1, one conference is managed by conference items. Each conference item stored in the item storage unit 28 can store basic information such as a conference name and participants. Further, it is associated with the recorded data stored in the recorded data storage unit 23 and also associated with the material data stored in the material data storage unit 29. The presentation unit 31 presents basic information, recording data, and material data managed by the conference item to the user of the server 5 via the Internet or the like, and browses and acquires these data according to the operation.

1 is a schematic block diagram of a recording system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. For recording data collected by the client 3 _i of FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of an example of processing in the client 3 _i and the server 5. It is a flowchart which shows an example of operation | movement of the server 5 of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the analysis process of the recording data by the analysis part 25 of FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the adjustment process of the recording data by the adjustment part 27 of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 recording system, 3 _1, ..., 3 _N clients, 5 server, 7 _1, ..., 7 _N sound acquiring unit, 9 _1, ..., 9 _N format converter, 10 _1, ..., 10 _N information adding unit, 11 _1, ..., 11 _N transmission unit, 13 receiving unit, 15 the verification unit, 17 the format conversion unit, 19 processing unit, 20 coupling unit, 21 storage unit, 23 recording data storage unit, 25 analyzing unit, 27 adjusting unit, 28 items Storage unit, 29 Document data storage unit, 31 Presentation unit

Claims (7)

A recording system comprising a server for receiving and storing a plurality of recording data sequentially acquired by sound acquisition means,
Each recording data is
Verification information that can verify the recording data is added to the recording data acquired first,
The recording data acquired after the second is added with the verification information added to the recording data acquired previously and the verification information that can verify the recording data,
The server does not include recording data, and receives end instruction data including verification information that can verify the verification information added to the recording data acquired last,
The server
For the recording data acquired first, the recording data is verified using the verification information added to the recording data, and for the recording data acquired second and later, it is added to the recording data. Verification information added to the previously acquired recording data using the verification information and verification means for verifying the recording data;
Combining means for combining the recorded data after the verification processing by the verification means;
The recording data storage means stores the recording data after the combining processing by the combining means, and is received last when the end instruction data is received or when no new recording data is received within a predetermined time. Recording system comprising storage means for storing the verification information. Order information that can specify the order is added to the recording data acquired first, the recording data acquired after the second and the end instruction data,
In the recording data acquired after the second and the end instruction data, verification information added to the recording data acquired immediately before is added,
The verification means includes, for each of the recording data acquired after the second and the end instruction data, verification information added to the recording data that was acquired one by the order information of the data; , Comparing the verification information added to the previously acquired recording data added to the data,
The recording system according to claim 1. With a client,
The client
The sound acquisition means;
Each recording data acquired by the sound acquisition means is transmitted to the server within a predetermined time from the time when the recording data was acquired, and all the recording data is transmitted to the server. Transmitting means for transmitting to the server within a predetermined time from the time,
A first storage device;
A second storage device having a slower access speed to the central processing unit than the first storage device;
The sound acquisition means divides the acquired sound into the plurality of recording data in order,
In the second storage device, the recording data is not stored, but verification information added to the last acquired recording data or verification information of the end instruction data is stored.
The recording system according to claim 1 or 2. The server
Analyzing means for analyzing the recorded data;
Adjusting means for adjusting the recorded data after analysis by the analyzing means,
In the recording data storage means,
Recording data after processing with respect to the recording data adjusted by the adjusting means by the combining means, or
Recording data after adjustment with respect to the recording data after the combining processing by the combining means is stored by the adjusting means.
The recording system according to claim 1.   5. The server according to claim 1, further comprising a presentation unit that presents the recording data stored in the recording data storage unit together with other information related to the recording data to the user. Recording system. A recording method in an information processing apparatus for receiving and storing a plurality of recording data sequentially acquired by sound acquisition means,
Each recording data is
Verification information that can verify the recording data is added to the recording data acquired first,
In the recording data acquired after the second, verification information added to the recording data acquired in the previous time and verification information capable of verifying the recording data are added,
The information processing apparatus does not include recording data, and receives end instruction data including verification information capable of verifying verification information added to the recording data acquired immediately before,
For the recording data acquired first,
The verification means verifies the recording data using the verification information added to the recording data,
Storing means for storing the recorded data as combined data in the recorded data storage means;
For the recording data acquired after the second,
When the verification means is the recording data next to the combined data stored in the recording data storage means, the verification information added to the recording data is added to the previously acquired recording data. Verify the verification information and the recorded data,
Combining means combines the recorded data with the combined data stored in the recording data storage means to form new combined data,
A step of storing the new combined data in place of the combined data stored in the recording data storage unit;
A recording method including a step of storing the last received verification information in the recording data storage unit when the end instruction data is received or when new recording data is not received within a predetermined time. .   The program for functioning a computer as a server in any one of Claims 1-5, or as a client of Claim 3.

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