JP2022125064A - Information process system, control method of the same, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform grouping suitable for transmission and reception of information without increase in labor and time of a user.

SOLUTION: A virtual conference system 1 comprises: an attribute information acquisition part 22 acquiring OS language information of a client terminal 10 from the client terminal 10; a group generation part 23 dividing a plurality of client terminals OS into a plurality of groups on the basis of the OS language information acquired by the attribute information acquisition part 22; and a distribution information acquisition part 24 acquiring a content distributed to a transmission destination client terminal 10 on the basis of media data from a transmission source client terminal 10. The distribution information acquisition part 24 acquires the content to the transmission destination client terminal 10 in the same group on the basis of the media data from the transmission source client terminal 10 in the same group between the client terminals 10 in the same group in which the group divided by the group generation part 23 is the same.

SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

COPYRIGHT: (C)2022,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing system, its control method, and program.

2. Description of the Related Art Teleconferencing systems, in which a plurality of client terminals transmit and receive information (media data) such as audio and images in a virtual conference room called a room, are increasingly being used. Teleconferencing systems are increasingly being used for seminars, and in the case of seminars, it may be necessary to divide users into groups in order to have discussions among users of client terminals who are in the same room. There is

For example, the teleconferencing system described in Patent Literature 1 below has a group management function for grouping users in the same room. In this teleconferencing system, information corresponding to the group to which the user belongs is transmitted to the client terminals of users grouped in advance.

JP 2006-155315 A

The group management function in the teleconferencing system described in Patent Literature 1 requires the user to register groups in advance or to create groups during a meeting, which is time-consuming for the user. It takes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an information processing system, a control method thereof, and a program capable of grouping information appropriately for transmitting and receiving information without requiring user's trouble.

An information processing system according to the present invention is an information processing system capable of transmitting and receiving information between a plurality of client terminals in a virtual conference room, wherein user attribute information indicating attributes of users of the client terminals is acquired from the client terminals. Based on information acquisition means, group generation means for dividing a plurality of client terminals into a plurality of groups based on the user attribute information acquired by the attribute information acquisition means, and based on transmission information that is information transmitted from the client terminal of the transmission source and a distribution information obtaining means for obtaining distribution information which is information to be distributed to a destination client terminal, wherein the distribution information obtaining means obtains client terminals in the same group divided by the group generation means. Between, based on the transmission information from the transmission source client terminal within the same group, the distribution information to the transmission destination client terminal within the same group is acquired.

Further, a control method for an information processing system according to the present invention is a control method for an information processing system capable of transmitting and receiving information between a plurality of client terminals in a virtual conference room, wherein user attributes indicating attributes of users of the client terminals an attribute information acquisition step of acquiring information from a client terminal; a group generation step of dividing a plurality of client terminals into a plurality of groups based on the user attribute information acquired in the attribute information acquisition step; and a distribution information obtaining step of obtaining distribution information, which is information to be distributed to the destination client terminal, based on the transmission information, which is the information to be sent, wherein the distribution information obtaining step includes the same groups divided in the group generation step. Between the client terminals in the same group, based on the transmission information from the source client terminal in the same group, the distribution information to the destination client terminal in the same group is acquired.

Further, a program for an information processing system according to the present invention is a program for an information processing system capable of transmitting and receiving information between a plurality of client terminals in a virtual conference room. attribute information acquisition means for acquiring from a client terminal the user attribute information indicated by the attribute information acquisition means; group generation means for dividing a plurality of client terminals into a plurality of groups based on the user attribute information acquired by the attribute information acquisition means; Based on the transmission information, which is the information transmitted from, the distribution information acquisition means acquires the distribution information, which is the information to be delivered to the destination client terminal, and the distribution information acquisition means is the group divided by the group generation means among client terminals in the same group with the same .

In the information processing system, its control method, and program according to the present invention, a plurality of client terminals are divided into a plurality of groups based on the user attribute information of the client terminals. Therefore, appropriate grouping based on the user's attributes is performed without requiring the user to register groups in advance. Then, based on the transmission information from the transmission source client terminal within the same group, the distribution information to the transmission destination client terminal within the same group is acquired. As a result, it is possible to transmit and receive information within the same appropriately divided group. As described above, appropriate grouping can be performed for transmitting and receiving information without requiring user's trouble.

Further, the information processing system according to the present invention includes room entry processing means for processing a room entry request for entering a virtual conference room from a client terminal, the room entry request includes user attribute information, and the attribute information acquisition means , the user attribute information may be acquired based on the room entry request processed by the room entry processing means. In this case, the user attribute information is acquired based on the processing of the room entry request from the client terminal. Therefore, user attribute information can be automatically acquired and grouped in response to a request to enter a room, without the need for the user to perform a special user operation for acquiring user attribute information.

Also, the attribute information acquiring means may acquire the user attribute information by receiving the user attribute information transmitted from the client terminal. In this case, the user attribute information is acquired by the attribute information acquiring means as the user attribute information is transmitted from the client terminal. Therefore, grouping can be easily performed based on the user attribute information transmitted from the client terminal.

Also, the user attribute information may be OS language information indicating the language of the OS of the client terminal. In this case, grouping is performed based on the OS language information of the client terminal. Therefore, for example, client terminals with the same OS language can be grouped together, and within the same group, client terminals with the same OS language can appropriately transmit and receive information.

Also, the user attribute information may be the number of transmissions of the transmission information from the client terminal of the transmission source. In this case, grouping is performed based on the number of transmission times of the transmission information from the client terminal of the transmission source. Therefore, for example, grouping can be performed so that the number of times of transmission is not biased in each group.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the information processing system which can perform suitable grouping for transmission/reception of information, its control method, and a program can be provided without user's trouble.

1 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a remote conference system according to a first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of various devices in the teleconferencing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a teleconferencing system according to the first embodiment of the present invention; FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the database of information memorize|stored by the room entrance process part. It is a figure which shows an example of the database which shows the group information memorize|stored by the group production|generation part. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the flow of a room-entry process. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of grouping execution processing; FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing details of content acquisition processing in FIG. 7; FIG. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of processing after grouping is canceled; FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a conference screen displayed on the client terminal of the chairperson user before execution of grouping; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a conference screen displayed on the client terminal of the chairperson user after execution of grouping; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a conference screen displayed on a client terminal of a general user before execution of grouping; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a conference screen displayed on a general user's client terminal after execution of grouping; FIG. 11 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a remote conference system according to the second embodiment; FIG. FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing an example of the flow of grouping execution processing according to the second embodiment; FIG.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the description, the same reference numerals are used for the same elements or elements having the same function.

(First embodiment)
A teleconferencing system according to the present embodiment is an information processing system capable of transmitting and receiving information between a plurality of client terminals in a virtual conference room (hereinafter referred to as "room") for using a web conference or a TV conference. System. The teleconferencing system according to this embodiment can hold a plurality of conferences by setting a plurality of rooms.

The teleconferencing system according to this embodiment is assumed to be used for seminars, for example. In this teleconferencing system, among a plurality of client terminals entering the same room, the user of one client terminal is selected as the chair user, and the users of the other client terminals are general users (seminar participants) other than the chair. ).

First, referring to FIG. 1, a schematic configuration of the remote conference system according to the present embodiment will be described.

As shown in FIG. 1, a remote conference system 1 (web conference system) includes, for example, a plurality of client terminals 10 (10X, 10A, 10B, 10C, 10D) to which personal computers can be applied, and each client terminal 10 and a remote conference server 20 (server device) that enables the use of the remote conference system. Each client terminal 10 and remote conference server 20 are connected to each other via a wireless or wired network N so as to be able to communicate with each other.

The client terminal 10 may employ various personal computers such as a desktop PC (client terminal 10X), a notebook PC (client terminals 10A and 10B), or a tablet PC (client terminals 10C and 10D). In this embodiment, for example, the user of client terminal 10X is selected as the chair user, and the users of other client terminals 10A to 10D are general users.

The client terminal 10 has a display, and displays a conference screen (interface) provided by the remote conference server 20 on the display. A conference screen is a screen of a conference in which a user participates. The client terminal 10 displays the conference image or designated image provided from the remote conference server 20 on the conference screen.

A conference image is an image captured by the camera function of the client terminal 10 to which the user ID participating in the conference has been input and transmitted to the teleconference server 20 . A conference image is, for example, an image of the user's own face.

A designated image is an image that is transmitted from the client terminal 10 to the remote conference server 20, for which designation is received through the input unit of the client terminal 10 in accordance with a user's operation. The teleconference server 20 transmits the specified image to the client terminals 10 of other users participating in the same conference as the user of the client terminal 10 that sent the specified image.

The client terminal 10 has a camera function, a microphone function, and a speaker function.

Specifically, the client terminal 10X includes a camera 100, a microphone 101, and a speaker . A camera 100, a microphone 101, and a speaker 102 are communicably connected to the client terminal 10X.

The camera 100 is a video device, such as a web camera, for transmitting its own moving image in a teleconference. A microphone 101 is an audio device for collecting the voice uttered by itself. A speaker 102 is an audio device for listening to the other party's voice.

Devices such as the camera 100, the microphone 101, and the speaker 102 may be separate housings, or may be provided in the same housing hardware. For example, it may be configured as a device with a camera function and a microphone function, a device with a microphone function and a speaker function, or a device with all of these functions.

The client terminals 10A to 10D each include an in-camera (not shown) (camera installed on the side where the display is installed), a built-in microphone, and a built-in speaker.

The client terminal 10 outputs content (delivery information) delivered from the remote conference server 20 . The content distributed from the remote conference server 20 to the client terminal 10 is information based on media data (image data or audio data) acquired by the camera function or microphone function of the client terminal 10 . For example, the client terminal 10 displays image data in a predetermined display area (meeting screen). In addition, the client terminal 10 outputs audio data distributed from the teleconference server 20 using the speaker function.

A web browser for accessing the remote conference server 20 and a dedicated module are installed in the client terminal 10 . Note that this dedicated module is, for example, an ActiveX component downloaded from the remote conference server 20 via a web browser.

The remote conference server 20 is a server for realizing a remote conference using a web browser. By accessing the remote conference server 20, the remote conference system 1 acquires a conference screen (interface) for the user to use the remote conference.

The remote conference server 20 accumulates media data transmitted from the client terminals 10 and distributes content based on the media data to the client terminals 10 connected to the remote conference server 20 . The client terminal 10 outputs content distributed from the teleconference server 20 .

Note that screen sharing may be performed between the client terminals 10 in the remote conference system 1 . That is, the screen of the client terminal 10 of the transmission source may be displayed on the display screen of the client terminal 10 of the transmission destination and shared. The screen to be shared can be specified by the client terminal 10, and may be the screen of the specified application or the entire desktop screen.

Next, an example of the hardware configuration of various devices in the remote conference system 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of various devices in the remote conference system 1. As shown in FIG.

In FIG. 2, reference numeral 201 denotes a CPU that controls devices and controllers connected to a system bus 204 in an integrated manner. In addition, the ROM 202 or the external memory 211 stores BIOS (Basic Input/Output System), which is a control program for the CPU 201, an operating system program (OS), or functions executed by each server or each PC. Various necessary programs and the like, which will be described later, are stored.

A RAM 203 functions as a main memory or a work area for the CPU 201 . The CPU 201 loads programs necessary for execution of processing from the ROM 202 or the external memory 211 to the RAM 203, and executes the loaded programs to realize various operations.

An input controller 205 controls input from an input device 209 such as a keyboard (KB) or a pointing device such as a mouse (not shown).

A video controller 206 controls display on a display device such as a display device 210, which is a CRT display (CRT). The display is not limited to the CRT display, and may be another display such as a liquid crystal display.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the display devices 210 of the client terminals 10C and 10D, which are tablet PCs, have a touch panel function. When the display device 210 has a touch panel function, the display device 210 also functions as an input device, and transmits touch operation information detected by the touch panel function (accepted by the display) to the input controller as input information. That is, the input controller 205 controls input from the display device 210 .

207 is a memory controller. A memory controller 107 controls access to a hard disk (HD), flexible disk (FD), or external memory 211 . The hard disk stores boot programs, various applications, font data, user files, edit files, various data, and the like. The external memory is, for example, a compact flash (registered trademark) memory connected to a PCMCIA card slot via an adapter.

A communication I/F controller 208 connects and communicates with an external device via a network (for example, the network N shown in FIG. 1), and executes communication control processing in the network. For example, communication using TCP/IP is possible.

It should be noted that the CPU 201 enables display on the display device 210 by, for example, rasterizing outline fonts to a display information area in the RAM 203 . The CPU 201 also allows the user to issue instructions using a mouse cursor (not shown) on the display device 210 .

Various programs described later for realizing the present invention are recorded in the external memory 211 and are executed by the CPU 201 by being loaded into the RAM 203 as necessary. Furthermore, definition files and various information tables used when executing the above programs are also stored in the external memory 211, and detailed descriptions thereof will be given later. An example of the hardware configuration of various devices in the teleconferencing system 1 has been described above.

Next, an example of the functional configuration of the remote conference system 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the remote conference system 1. As shown in FIG. Functional units 11 to 16 shown in FIG. 3 are functional units provided in the teleconference application (client application) installed in the client terminal 10 . Functional units 21 to 27 shown in FIG. 3 are functional units included in the remote conference application (server application) installed in the remote conference server 20 .

First, the functional configuration of the client terminal 10 will be described. The client terminal 10 functionally includes an entry request unit 11, a group creation request unit 12, a transmission data storage unit 13, a transmission control unit 14, a content reception control unit 15, and an output unit 16. . Note that the group creation request unit 12 may be provided only in the chair user's client terminal 10X, and may not be provided in the other general user's client terminals 10A to 10D.

The room entry request unit 11 transmits a room entry request by the user of the client terminal 10 to the room entry processing unit 21 of the remote conference server 20 . A room entry request is a request to enter a room that the user wants to join. The room entry request unit 11 receives a room entry request, for example, based on a user's operation.

Specifically, when the user successfully logs in to the teleconference server 20 using the user ID, the display screen of the client terminal 10 displays a menu screen including a "meeting room reservation" button. When the press of the "reserve conference room" button on the menu screen is accepted, the display screen displays a participation destination selection screen for selecting the conference to participate in (the room where the conference to participate will be held). be. When the selection of a conference to participate in is accepted by the user's operation on this participation destination selection screen, the room entry request unit 11 transmits an entry request for the selected conference (room) to the room entry processing unit 21 .

The room entry request transmitted by the room entry request unit 11 includes user ID information, OS language information, and a chairman flag. User ID information is information indicating a user's ID. The OS language information is information indicating the language of the OS of the client terminal 10 . The OS language is, for example, various languages such as Japanese or English.

The chairman flag is a flag indicating whether or not the user is the chairman user. For example, if the user is the chairman user, the number is "1", and if the user is a general user other than the chairman user, the number is "0". be Whether or not the user is the chairperson user is set in advance, for example, when the room is reserved.

The group creation request unit 12 transmits a grouping request to the attribute information acquisition unit 22 of the teleconference server 20 . A grouping request is a request for grouping the client terminals 10A to 10D of general users in the same room. The group creation request unit 12 accepts a grouping request based on, for example, a user operation by the chairperson user (pressing of the grouping start button 30 shown in FIG. 10). Note that the grouping request may be accepted based on a general user's operation.

Also, the group creation request unit 12 transmits a grouping cancellation request to the group creation unit 23 of the remote conference server 20 . A grouping cancellation request is a request for canceling the grouping of the grouped client terminals 10A to 10D. The group creation request unit 12 accepts a grouping cancellation request based on, for example, the chair user's user operation (pressing of the grouping cancellation button 32 shown in FIG. 11). Note that the grouping cancellation request may be accepted based on the general user's operation.

The transmission data storage unit 13 is a storage unit (queue) that stores the same information as the information transmitted by the transmission control unit 14 . The transmission data storage unit 13 has, for example, audio cues and image cues. A voice cue is a cue for voice information collected by the microphone function of the client terminal 10 . Audio information intermittently collected by the microphone function of the client terminal 10 is sequentially stored in the audio queue.

The image queues include an image queue for a captured image (conference image) captured by the camera function of the client terminal 10 and an image queue for a specified image (image of the desktop screen of the client terminal 10, etc.) specified by user operation. is included.

The captured images are sequentially stored in the image queue for captured images. The camera function of the client terminal 10 intermittently performs imaging processing (imaging of moving images and input of moving images to the client terminal 10). Therefore, in the image queue for captured images, a plurality of images forming a moving image are sequentially stored for each frame in the moving image.

A specified image is stored in the image queue for the specified image at predetermined time intervals. Desktop images displayed on the desktop screen of the client terminal 10 are sequentially stored in the image queue for designated images, for example, every 0.2 seconds. Each designated image to be stored is, for example, one frame of a moving image that is reproduced by stitching together desktop images.

The transmission control unit 14 transmits media data (transmission information) to be transmitted from the source client terminal 10 to the destination client terminal 10 in the teleconference to the reception control unit 26 of the teleconference server 20 . Media data includes, for example, sound collected by the microphone function, images (video) captured by the camera function, or designated images designated as images to be shared by user operation (whole desktop or designated application screen). image), etc.

The content reception control unit 15 requests the distribution control unit 25 of the remote conference server 20 to start communication. Specifically, the content reception control unit 15 stores user information in the same room notified by the room entry processing unit 21, which will be described later. The content reception control unit 15 opens a socket necessary for distributing content from the remote conference server 20 to the client terminal 10 based on the stored user information in the same room. The content reception control unit 15 receives the content output from the distribution control unit 25 by requesting the distribution control unit 25 to start communication accompanied by the opening of the socket. The content reception control section 15 outputs the received content to the output section 16 .

The output section 16 outputs the content output from the content reception control section 15 . Specifically, image data as content is displayed on the conference screen, or audio data as content is output by the speaker function. The output unit 16 switches the display of the conference screen based on the grouping execution result from the group generation unit 23 of the teleconference server 20 . When the room entry processing unit 21 notifies that one user has entered the room, the output unit 16 may output a notification to that effect.

Next, the functional configuration of the teleconference server 20 will be described. The remote conference server 20 functionally includes an entry processing unit 21 (entry processing means), an attribute information acquisition unit 22 (attribute information acquisition unit), a group generation unit 23 (group generation unit), and a distribution information acquisition unit. 24 (distribution information acquisition means), a distribution control unit 25, a reception control unit 26, and a reception data storage unit 27.

The room entry processing unit 21 executes room entry processing upon receiving the room entry request transmitted from the room entry request unit 11 of the client terminal 10 . The room entry process is a process of allowing a user to enter a requested room. For example, it is a process of storing which room is accessed by which user and from which client terminal 10 . In this embodiment, the user ID information, the OS language information, and the chairman flag included in the room entry request are stored as room entry processing.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a database of information stored by the entry processing unit 21. As shown in FIG. The database shown in FIG. 4 stores the user ID indicated by the user ID information, the OS language indicated by the OS language information, and the number indicated by the chairman flag. As shown in FIG. 4, the entry processing unit 21 stores the OS language and chairman flag in association with the user ID. The room entry processing unit 21 manages a database as shown in FIG. 4 for each room.

A user whose user ID is “user X” shown in FIG. 4 corresponds to the user of the client terminal 10X. The users whose user IDs are "user A", "user B", "user C" and "user D" shown in FIG. 4 correspond to the users of the client terminals 10A, 10B, 10C and 10D.

After performing room entry processing for one user, the room entry processing unit 21 notifies other users in the room for which room entry processing has been performed that the one user has entered the room. For example, the room entry processing unit 21 transmits information indicating that one user has entered the room to the output unit 16 of the other user's client terminal 10 .

The room entry processing unit 21 sends information of other users in the room for which room entry processing has been performed (hereinafter referred to as "user information in the same room") to the content reception control unit 15 of the client terminal 10 of the user who has performed room entry processing. (also called). User information in the same room is information indicating which other users are in the same room, and is used, for example, to open a socket required for content distribution.

The attribute information acquisition unit 22 acquires user attribute information of the client terminal 10 from the client terminal 10 . User attribute information is information indicating user attributes, and is OS language information in this embodiment.

The attribute information acquisition unit 22 extracts and acquires user attribute information for each user from the information stored by the room entry processing unit 21 . The attribute information acquisition unit 22 acquires user attribute information, for example, at the timing when a grouping request is transmitted from the group generation request unit 12 of the client terminal 10 .

Specifically, the attribute information acquiring unit 22 obtains, from the database shown in FIG. OS language information indicating that the OS language of each user, ie, "User X", "User C", and "User D" is "Japanese". The attribute information acquisition unit 22 outputs the acquired OS language information (user attribute information) to the group generation unit 23 .

The group generation unit 23 divides the plurality of client terminals 10 into multiple groups based on the OS language information acquired by the attribute information acquisition unit 22 . The group generation unit 23 generates groups for the client terminals 10A to 10D of general users other than the chair user.

Specifically, based on the OS language information output from the attribute information acquisition unit 22, the group generation unit 23 generates groups for the client terminals 10A to 10D such that users with the same OS language belong to the same group. That is, the group generation unit 23 sets the client terminals 10A and 10B of "user A" and "user B" whose OS language is "English" as "group 1", and sets "user terminals 10A and 10B" whose OS language is "Japanese" as "group 1". Grouping is executed with the client terminals 10C and 10D of "C" and "user D" as "group 2".

The group generation unit 23 stores group information indicating the generated groups. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a database showing group information stored by the group generation unit 23. As shown in FIG. The database shown in FIG. 5 stores group IDs for identifying groups and user IDs. As shown in FIG. 5, the group generation unit 23 stores the group ID and the user ID in association with each other.

When the group creation request unit 12 transmits the group release request, the group creation unit 23 releases the grouping of the client terminals 10A to 10E.

The group generation unit 23 outputs the result of the execution of grouping (the result of grouping or the result of canceling the grouping) to the distribution information acquisition unit 24 . In addition, the group generation unit 23 notifies the output unit 16 of each client terminal 10 of the grouping execution result.

The distribution information acquisition unit 24 acquires content (distribution information) that is information to be distributed to each client terminal 10 as a transmission destination by the distribution control unit 25 . Content is acquired based on the media data stored in the received data storage unit 27 . The distribution information acquisition section 24 outputs the acquired content to the distribution control section 25 .

When the group generation unit 23 outputs the grouping execution result, the distribution information acquisition unit 24 acquires the content based on the output result. When grouping by the group generation unit 23 is not performed (when grouping is canceled), the distribution information acquisition unit 24 generates content based on media data from all client terminals 10 in the same room. to get

For example, the distribution information obtaining unit 24 obtains content to be distributed to the client terminal 10X based on media data from all the client terminals 10A to 10D other than the client terminal 10X.

If the media data is voice, information obtained by combining (mixing) the media data from each of the client terminals 10A to 10D may be acquired as the content. The distribution information acquisition unit 24 similarly acquires content to be distributed to all client terminals 10 in the same room.

Further, when grouping is performed by the group generation unit 23 , the distribution information acquisition unit 24 acquires content based on the groups divided by the group generation unit 23 .

Specifically, the distribution information acquisition unit 24 acquires content between the client terminals 10 in the same group (the groups divided by the group generation unit 23 are the same). The distribution information acquisition unit 24 acquires content for the destination client terminal 10 within the same group based on the media data from the source client terminal 10 within the same group.

For example, the delivery information acquiring unit 24 acquires media data from the client terminal 10B belonging to the same "group 1" as content to be delivered to the client terminal 10A belonging to "group 1". Also, the distribution information acquisition unit 24 acquires media data from the client terminal 10A belonging to the same "group 1" as content to be distributed to the client terminal 10B belonging to the "group 1".

If there are other client terminals belonging to "group 1" besides the terminals 10A and 10B, media data from the other client terminals are also acquired as contents to be delivered to each of the client terminals 10A and 10B. Media data from the chair user's client terminal 10X may also be acquired as content to be distributed to each of the client terminals 10A and 10B.

The delivery information acquiring unit 24 also acquires the content to be delivered to the client terminals 10C and 10D belonging to "group 2" in the same manner as the client terminals 10A and 10B belonging to "group 1".

Note that the distribution information acquisition unit 24 may acquire the content to be distributed to the chair user's client terminal 10X regardless of whether grouping is performed by the group generation unit 23 or not. For example, even when the grouping by the group generation unit 23 is executed, the distribution information acquiring unit 24 selects content other than the client terminal 10X as content to be distributed to the client terminal 10X, as in the case where the grouping is not executed. Media data may be obtained from all of the client terminals 10A-10D.

The distribution control unit 25 outputs the content output from the distribution information acquisition unit 24 to the content reception control unit 15 of each client terminal 10 that requests distribution.

The reception control unit 26 receives media data transmitted from the transmission control unit 14 of the client terminal 10 . The reception control section 26 outputs the received media data to the received data storage section 27 .

The received data storage unit 27 stores media data received by the reception control unit 26 . The received data storage unit 27 has audio cues and image cues.

Next, with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9, the processing and operations performed by the teleconference system 1 having the above configuration, that is, the control method of the teleconference system 1 will be described.

In the explanation of the flowchart below, among the processes in the teleconference system 1, the room entry process, the grouping execution process, and the process after grouping cancellation will be particularly focused on. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of room entry processing. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of grouping execution processing. FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the details of the content acquisition process in FIG. FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the flow of processing after grouping is cancelled.

In the example shown in FIG. 6, a case where there is a room entry request from the client terminal 10A will be described as an example.

As shown in FIG. 6, first, when a room entry request is transmitted by the room entry request unit 11 of the client terminal 10A (step S301), the room entry request is received by the room entry processing unit 21 of the remote conference server 20 (step S302). ). Next, room entry processing is executed by the room entry processing unit 21 (step S303). Specifically, the room entry processing unit 21 analyzes the parameters of the room entry request, and acquires the user ID information, the OS language information, and the chairman flag.

Subsequently, the room entry processing unit 21 performs processing for storing the acquired user ID information, OS language information, and chairman flag for the room requested to enter (step S304). Subsequently, the room entry processing unit 21 outputs information indicating that the user of the client terminal 10A has entered the room to the other client terminals 10 (client terminals 10X, 10B to 10E) that have entered the room for which the room entry processing has been performed. The unit 16 is notified (step S305).

Subsequently, the room entry processing unit 21 notifies the content reception control unit 15 of the client terminal 10A that has issued the room entry request of user information in the same room (which other users are in the same room). (Step S306).

Subsequently, the content reception control unit 15 of the client terminal 10A stores the user information in the same room notified by the room entry processing unit 21 (step S307).

Subsequently, the content reception control unit 15 of the client terminal 10A requests the distribution control unit 25 of the remote conference server 20 to start communication (step S308). Specifically, the content reception control unit 15 opens a necessary number of sockets based on the user information in the same room notified by the room entry processing unit 21 and requests the start of communication. As for the number of sockets, for example, one socket is required for audio, and the number of other users is required for video. The opening of the socket may be performed from the remote conference server 20 side.

Subsequently, the distribution control unit 25 of the teleconference server 20 starts distributing the content in response to the communication start request from the client terminal 10A (step S309).

Next, the grouping execution process will be described with reference to the flowcharts shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 and the conference screens shown in FIGS. In the example shown in FIG. 7, an example in which grouping is performed by the chair user's client terminal 10X will be described.

10 and 11 are diagrams showing conference screens displayed on the chair user's client terminal 10X. FIG. 10 shows the conference screen before grouping, and FIG. 11 shows the conference screen after grouping. 12 and 13 are diagrams showing conference screens displayed on the general user's client terminal 10A. FIG. 12 shows the conference screen before grouping, and FIG. 13 shows the conference screen after grouping.

As shown in FIG. 7, first, a grouping request is transmitted from the group generation requesting unit 12 of the client terminal 10X to the attribute information acquiring unit 22 of the remote conference server 20 (step S401).

The group generation request unit 12 accepts a grouping request by accepting a user's depression of the grouping start button 30 on the conference screen before grouping shown in FIG. 10, for example. As shown in FIG. 10, each user (user A, user B, user C, and user D) in the same room is displayed in the conference window 31 on the conference screen of the chair user before grouping. there is

Subsequently, the attribute information acquisition unit 22 of the remote conference server 20 receives the grouping request from the group creation request unit 12 of the client terminal 10X (step S402). Subsequently, the OS language information for each user other than the chair user is acquired by the attribute information acquiring unit 22 from the information stored by the room entry processing unit 21 in step S304 (step S403). The OS language information acquired by the attribute information acquisition section 22 is output from the attribute information acquisition section 22 to the group generation section 23 .

Subsequently, the group generator 23 divides the client terminals 10A to 10D into a plurality of groups based on the OS language information acquired in step S403 (step S404). Specifically, the client terminals 10A and 10B of users whose OS language is "English" (user A, user B) are assigned to "group 1", and users whose OS language is "Japanese" (users C, The client terminals 10C and 10D of user D) are referred to as "group 2".

Subsequently, the group generation unit 23 notifies each client terminal 10 of the grouping execution result (step S405). Specifically, information indicating the result of grouping execution is transmitted from the group generation unit 23 to the output unit 16 of each client terminal 10 .

The output unit 16 switches and displays the conference screen based on the grouping execution result notified in step S405 (step S406).

For example, as shown in FIG. 11, frame images 41 and 42 surrounding the users for each group are displayed in the conference window 31 on the conference screen of the chairperson user after execution of grouping. That is, it is indicated that grouping has been performed on the conference screen. Also, instead of the grouping start button 30, a grouping release button 32 is displayed on the conference screen of the chairperson user after execution of grouping.

As shown in FIG. 12, the chair user is displayed in the conference window 31 of the conference screen of user A before grouping. User B in the same group is displayed in the conference window 31 of the conference screen of user A after the execution of grouping, as shown in FIG. That is, the user A's conference screen is switched from the display of the chair user to the display of the user B in the same group by grouping. As for the user B's conference screen, similarly, the display of the chair user is switched to the display of the user A in the same group by performing grouping.

As for the conference screen of user C, similarly, the display of the chair user is switched to the display of user D in the same group by performing grouping. As for the conference screen of user D, similarly, the display of the chair user is switched to the display of user C in the same group by performing grouping.

Subsequent to step S406, the transmission control unit 14 of each client terminal 10 transmits the media data to the reception control unit 26 of the remote conference server 20 (step S407). Subsequently, the media data transmitted in step S407 is received by the reception control unit 26 of the remote conference server 20 (step S408). The media data received by the reception control section 26 is stored in the received data storage section 27 .

Subsequently, the content to be distributed to general users is obtained by the distribution information obtaining unit 24 based on the group (step S409). Specifically, based on the media data of the client terminals 10 in the same group among the media data stored in the received data storage unit 27, the distribution information acquisition unit 24 transmits the media data to the client terminals 10 in the same group. content is retrieved. Contents to be distributed to the chair user are obtained based on the media data of all the client terminals 10A-10B.

Referring to FIG. 8, the group-based content acquisition process in step S409 will be described using an example in which media data is audio data. In addition, in the processing shown in FIG. 8, as a premise, there are other users belonging to "group 1" besides user A and user B, and other users besides user C and user D belonging to "group 2". user exists.

The processing shown in FIG. 8 is repeated, for example, until content is acquired for all users in the same room. For example, in the process of acquiring content to be distributed to user A, first, voice cues of users belonging to the same group as user A, stored in received data storage unit 27, are referred to (S4091). Subsequently, voice data of users belonging to the same group (user B and other users belonging to "group 1") are acquired from the voice queue to be referred to (S4092).

Subsequently, the acquired voice data of each user is synthesized (mixed), and the synthesized result is acquired as content (S4093). Subsequently, the content (synthetic voice data) acquired in S4093 is output to the distribution control unit 25 (S4094). When the above processes S4091 to S4094 are repeated for all users, the content acquisition process for audio data ends, and the process of step S409 ends. Note that if there is no other user belonging to the same group, or if the media data is an image, the synthesis processing in step S4093 is omitted.

When the content is acquired in step S409 shown in FIG. 7, the content is distributed to each client terminal 10 by the distribution control unit 25 (step S410). With the above, the grouping execution process ends.

Next, with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. 9 and the conference screens shown in FIGS. 10 to 13, the processing after grouping is canceled will be described. In the example shown in FIG. 9, an example in which the grouping is canceled by the chair user's client terminal 10X will be described.

As shown in FIG. 9, first, a grouping cancellation request is sent by the group generation requesting unit 12 of the client terminal 10X to the group generation unit 23 of the remote conference server 20 (step S501). The group creation request unit 12 accepts a grouping cancellation request by accepting a grouping cancellation button 32 pressed by the user on the conference screen after execution of grouping shown in FIG. 11, for example.

Subsequently, the grouping release request transmitted in step S501 is received by the group generation unit 23 (step S502). Subsequently, the group generation unit 23 notifies each client terminal 10 of the result of canceling the grouping (step S503). Specifically, information indicating the result of canceling the grouping is transmitted from the group generation unit 23 to the output unit 16 of each client terminal 10 .

Subsequently, the output unit 16 changes the display of the conference screen based on the cancellation result notified in step S503 (step S504). That is, the conference screen indicates that the grouping has been canceled.

For example, the conference screen of the chairperson user is switched from the conference screen of FIG. 11 to the conference screen of FIG. 10 by canceling the grouping. On the conference screen of the chairperson user, the frame images 41 and 42 displayed in the conference window 31 disappear, and the grouping start button 30 is displayed instead of the grouping cancel button 32 .

The conference screen of user A is switched from the conference screen of FIG. 13 to the conference screen of FIG. 12 by canceling the grouping. That is, the user displayed in the conference window 31 changes from the user B to the chair user. As for the user B's conference screen, similarly, the user displayed in the conference window 31 changes from the user A to the chairman user by canceling the grouping. The display of the user C and user D conference screens is similarly switched.

Subsequent to step S504, the transmission control unit 14 of each client terminal 10 transmits the media data to the reception control unit 26 of the remote conference server 20 (step S505). Subsequently, the media data transmitted in step S505 is received by the reception control unit 26 of the remote conference server 20 (step S506). The media data received by the reception control section 26 is stored in the received data storage section 27 .

Subsequently, the content to be distributed to users other than the chairman is reacquired by the distribution information obtaining unit 24 (step S507). For example, the content to be delivered to the client terminal 10A is acquired based on the media data from all the client terminals 10X, 10B to 10D other than the client terminal 10A. The distribution information acquisition unit 24 outputs the reacquired content to the distribution control unit 25 .

Subsequently, the content reacquired in step S507 is distributed to each client terminal 10 by the distribution control unit 25 (S508). With the above, the processing after grouping cancellation is completed.

The processing described above may be implemented as a program that causes the teleconferencing system 1 to function as each of the functional units described above.

As described above, according to the teleconferencing system 1 and its control method and program according to the present embodiment, a plurality of client terminals 10 are divided into a plurality of groups based on the OS user attribute information of the client terminals 10 . Therefore, appropriate grouping based on the user's attributes is performed without requiring the user to register groups in advance. Based on the media data from the source client terminal 10 in the same group, the content for the destination client terminal 10 in the same group is acquired. As a result, it becomes possible to transmit and receive information within the same appropriately divided group. As described above, appropriate grouping can be performed for transmitting and receiving information without requiring user's trouble.

Further, according to the teleconferencing system 1 , user attribute information is acquired based on the room entry request from the client terminal 10 being processed by the room entry processing unit 21 . Therefore, user attribute information can be automatically acquired and grouped in response to a request to enter a room, without the need for the user to perform a special user operation for acquiring user attribute information.

Further, according to the teleconferencing system 1 , grouping is performed based on the OS language information of the client terminal 10 . Therefore, for example, the client terminals 10 with the same OS language can be grouped together, and within the same group, the client terminals 10 with the same OS language can appropriately transmit and receive information.

(Second embodiment)
Next, a teleconferencing system according to the second embodiment will be described. The remote conference system according to the second embodiment has the same elements and structures as the remote conference system 1 according to the first embodiment. Therefore, elements and structures similar to those of the teleconference system 1 according to the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, detailed description thereof is omitted, and portions different from the first embodiment are described.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the remote conference system according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 14, in the second embodiment, the client terminal 10 includes an entry request unit 11, a group creation request unit 12, a transmission data storage unit 13, a transmission control unit 14, a content reception control unit 15, and an output unit. 16, an attribute information transmitting unit 17 (attribute information transmitting means) is provided. Note that the client terminal 10X of the chairperson user does not have to include the attribute information transmission unit 17 .

The attribute information transmission unit 17 transmits user attribute information from each of the general user client terminals 10A to 10D to the attribute information acquisition unit 22 of the remote conference server 20 . That is, in this embodiment, user attribute information is transmitted separately from the room entry request transmitted by the room entry request unit 11 .

The attribute information transmission unit 17 may transmit user attribute information in place of the user attribute information included in the room entry request transmitted by the room entry request unit 11, and in addition to the user attribute information included in the room entry request, User attribute information may be transmitted.

In this embodiment, the number of transmissions of transmission information from the source client terminals 10A to 10D (hereinafter also referred to as "the number of transmissions of the client terminals 10A to 10D") is used as the user attribute information instead of the OS language information. More specifically, the user attribute information is the number of times the user speaks during the conference.

The number of transmissions of the client terminals 10A-10D is stored for each of the client terminals 10A-10D in the transmission data storage unit 13, for example. The attribute information transmission unit 17 transmits the number of transmissions of each of the client terminals 10A to 10D stored in the transmission data storage unit 13 to the attribute information acquisition unit 22 at a predetermined timing. That is, the attribute information transmission unit 17 transmits the number of transmissions of each of the client terminals 10A to 10D within a predetermined period to the attribute information acquisition unit 22. FIG.

The timing at which the attribute information transmitting unit 17 transmits the number of transmissions of each of the client terminals 10A to 10D is, for example, the timing at which the grouping request is received by the attribute information acquiring unit 22 while a meeting is being held in the room. is. When information indicating that the grouping request has been received is transmitted from the attribute information acquisition unit 22, the attribute information transmission unit 17 transmits the number of transmissions of each of the client terminals 10A to 10D.

Upon receiving the grouping request from the group generation requesting unit 12, the attribute information acquiring unit 22 notifies the attribute information transmitting unit 17 of the general user client terminals 10A to 10D that the grouping request has been received.

The attribute information acquisition unit 22 receives the number of transmissions of each of the client terminals 10A to 10D transmitted from the attribute information transmission unit 17. FIG. As a result, the attribute information acquisition unit 22 acquires the number of transmissions of each of the client terminals 10A to 10D as user attribute information. The attribute information acquisition unit 22 outputs the acquired number of times of transmission of each of the client terminals 10A to 10D to the group generation unit 23 .

The group generation unit 23 divides the plurality of client terminals 10A to 10D into a plurality of groups based on the number of times of transmission of each of the client terminals 10A to 10D output from the attribute information acquisition unit 22. FIG. For example, the group generation unit 23 generates groups so that the total number of transmissions of the client terminals 10A to 10D in the same group (hereinafter also referred to as "total number of transmissions within the group") is not excessively biased for each group. do. More specifically, the group generation unit 23 performs grouping so that the difference in the total number of transmissions within the group for each group is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold.

Next, with reference to FIG. 15, grouping execution processing in this embodiment will be described. FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of grouping execution processing according to the second embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 15, first, a grouping request is sent to the attribute information acquisition unit 22 of the remote conference server 20 by the group generation request unit 12 of the chair user's client terminal 10X (step S601). The attribute information acquisition unit 22 of 20 receives the grouping request from the group generation request unit 12 of the client terminal 10X (step S602).

When the grouping request is received in step S602, the attribute information acquiring unit 22 of the teleconference server 20 notifies the attribute information transmitting unit 17 of each of the client terminals 10A to 10D that there is a grouping request ( step S603). Subsequently, information indicating that a grouping request has been made is received by the attribute information transmitting unit 17 (step S604). Subsequently, the attribute information transmission unit 17 transmits the number of transmissions of each of the client terminals 10A to 10D to the attribute information acquisition unit 22 of the remote conference server 20 (step S605).

Subsequently, the attribute information acquisition unit 22 receives the number of transmissions of each of the client terminals 10A to 10D transmitted in step S605 (step S606). The number of transmissions of each of the client terminals 10A to 10D received by the attribute information acquisition unit 22 is output from the attribute information acquisition unit 22 to the group generation unit 23. FIG.

Subsequently, the group generation unit 23 divides the client terminals 10A to 10D into a plurality of groups based on the number of transmissions of each of the client terminals 10A to 10D received in step S606 (step S607).

Since the subsequent processing is the same as the processing of steps S405 to S410 shown in FIG. 7, the description thereof will be omitted.

As described above, according to the teleconferencing system of the present embodiment, the attribute information acquisition unit 22 acquires the user attribute information as the attribute information transmission unit 17 transmits the user attribute information from the client terminal 10 . Therefore, grouping can be easily performed based on the user attribute information transmitted from the client terminal 10 .

Further, according to the present embodiment, grouping is performed based on the number of transmissions of each client terminal 10 . Therefore, for example, grouping can be performed so that the number of times of transmission is not biased in each group.

Although various embodiments of the present embodiment have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention.

In the above embodiment, an example in which user attribute information is included in the room entry request has been described, but user attribute information may not be included in the room entry request.

In the above-described embodiment, an example in which grouping is executed based on either the OS language information of each client terminal 10 or the number of times of transmission has been described, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, grouping may be performed based on the OS language information of each client terminal 10, and grouping may be performed again based on the number of transmissions of each client terminal 10 at a predetermined timing.

The user attribute information is not limited to the example described in the above embodiment. identification information (sex or age, etc.). When using shared screen information as user attribute information, in step S403, instead of acquiring OS language information, shared information may be acquired, and grouping may be executed based on the acquired information. When using open file information or user identification information (gender, age, etc.), each information may be obtained in step S403 and grouping may be performed based on the information. Moreover, it goes without saying that grouping can be performed using a plurality of pieces of user attribute information.

Each functional unit included in the client terminal 10 in the above embodiment may be included in the remote conference server 20 , and each functional unit included in the remote conference server 20 may be included in the client terminal 10 .

Although the remote conference system including the client terminal 10 and the remote conference server 20 has been described in the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this. The information processing system according to the present invention may be the server itself provided with the function units described above, or may be the client terminal itself provided with the function units described above.

The present invention can also be embodied as, for example, a system, device, method, program, storage medium, etc. Specifically, it may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices, or It may be applied to an apparatus consisting of one device.

It should be noted that the present invention includes those that directly or remotely supply a software program that implements the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus. The present invention also includes a case where the computer of the system or device reads and executes the supplied program code.

Therefore, the program code itself installed in the computer to implement (execute) the functional processing of the present invention also implements the present invention. That is, the present invention also includes the computer program itself for realizing the functional processing of the present invention.

In that case, as long as it has the function of a program, it may be in the form of object code, a program executed by an interpreter, script data supplied to the OS, or the like.

Recording media for supplying programs include, for example, flexible disks, hard disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, MOs, CD-ROMs, CD-Rs, and CD-RWs. There are also magnetic tapes, non-volatile memory cards, ROMs, and DVDs (DVD-ROM, DVD-R).

Another method of supplying the program is to connect to a home page on the Internet using a browser on the client computer. It can also be supplied by downloading the computer program of the present invention itself or a compressed file including an automatic installation function from the home page to a recording medium such as a hard disk.

It is also possible to divide the program code constituting the program of the present invention into a plurality of files and download each file from a different home page. In other words, the present invention also includes a WWW server that allows a plurality of users to download program files for implementing the functional processing of the present invention on a computer.

In addition, the program of the present invention is encrypted, stored in a storage medium such as a CD-ROM, distributed to users, and key information for deciphering is downloaded from a homepage via the Internet to users who have cleared predetermined conditions. Let Then, by using the downloaded key information, the encrypted program can be executed and installed in the computer.

Also, the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the computer executing the read program. In addition, based on the instructions of the program, the OS or the like running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments can also be realized by the processing.

Further, the program read from the recording medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer. After that, based on the instruction of the program, the CPU or the like provided in the function expansion board or function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing also realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments.

It should be noted that the above-described embodiments merely show specific examples for carrying out the present invention, and the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed to be limited by these. That is, the present invention can be embodied in various forms without departing from its technical concept or main features.

1 Teleconference system (information processing system)
10 Client terminal 21 Room entry processing unit (room entry processing means)
22 attribute information acquisition unit (attribute information acquisition means)
23 Group generation unit (group generation means)
24 distribution information acquisition unit (distribution information acquisition means)

Claims (7)

An information processing system capable of transmitting and receiving information between a plurality of client terminals in a virtual conference room,
attribute information acquisition means for acquiring user attribute information indicating attributes of a user of the client terminal from the client terminal;
group generation means for dividing the plurality of client terminals into a plurality of groups based on the user attribute information acquired by the attribute information acquisition means;
distribution information acquisition means for acquiring distribution information, which is information to be distributed to a destination client terminal, based on transmission information, which is information transmitted from a transmission source client terminal;
The distribution information acquisition means is configured to, between the client terminals in the same group divided by the group generation means and in the same group, based on the transmission information from the transmission source client terminal in the same group, the An information processing system that acquires the distribution information to a destination client terminal within the same group. An entry processing means for processing an entry request requesting entry into the virtual conference room from the client terminal,
The room entry request includes the user attribute information,
2. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein said attribute information acquisition means acquires said user attribute information based on said room entry request processed by said room entry processing means. 3. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein said attribute information acquiring means acquires said user attribute information by receiving said user attribute information transmitted from said client terminal. 4. The information processing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said user attribute information is OS language information indicating an OS language of said client terminal. 5. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein said user attribute information is the number of transmissions of said transmission information from said client terminal as a transmission source. A control method for an information processing system capable of transmitting and receiving information between a plurality of client terminals in a virtual conference room,
an attribute information acquiring step of acquiring user attribute information indicating attributes of a user of the client terminal from the client terminal;
a group generation step of dividing the plurality of client terminals into a plurality of groups based on the user attribute information acquired in the attribute information acquisition step;
a delivery information acquisition step of acquiring delivery information, which is information to be delivered to a destination client terminal, based on transmission information, which is information transmitted from a transmission source client terminal;
In the distribution information acquisition step, among the client terminals in the same group divided in the group generation step, based on the transmission information from the transmission source client terminal in the same group, the A control method for an information processing system, which acquires the distribution information to a destination client terminal within the same group. A program for an information processing system capable of transmitting and receiving information between a plurality of client terminals in a virtual conference room,
the information processing system,
attribute information acquisition means for acquiring user attribute information indicating attributes of a user of the client terminal from the client terminal;
group generation means for dividing the plurality of client terminals into a plurality of groups based on the user attribute information acquired by the attribute information acquisition means;
Functioning as distribution information acquisition means for acquiring distribution information, which is information to be distributed to a destination client terminal, based on transmission information, which is information transmitted from a transmission source client terminal,
The distribution information acquisition means is configured to, between the client terminals in the same group divided by the group generation means and in the same group, based on the transmission information from the transmission source client terminal in the same group, the A program for acquiring the distribution information to a destination client terminal within the same group.

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