JP2022165101A - Communication management device, communication management method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To prevent unnecessary voice from being output even when there is a plurality of terminal devices in the same area in a communication system for sending and receiving voice between a plurality of terminal devices.SOLUTION: A communication management device manages communication for sending and receiving voice between a plurality of terminal devices. The communication management device has a determining unit that determines a terminal device for executing a voice process from among the plurality of terminal devices in the same area and a terminal control unit that instructs a terminal device on the same area that is different from the terminal device executing the voice process to discontinue the voice process.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

The present invention relates to a communication management device, communication management method, and program.

A communication system that encodes an audio signal and an image signal and transmits/receives them via a communication network for web conferencing or the like has become widespread.

In a teleconference system, telephone terminals with the right to speak are divided into telephone terminals without the right to speak, and only the receiving lines of the telephone terminals without the right to speak are collectively connected to the transmission port of the conference trunk. A technique is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

2. Description of the Related Art In a communication system such as a web conference, multiple participants may gather in the same area such as a conference room and participate in the same web conference from multiple terminal devices. In such a case, for example, the microphones of multiple terminal devices in the area pick up the participants' remarks, and the terminals participating in the web conference from other locations repeatedly output unnecessary audio. There is a problem that it will be done. It should be noted that this problem cannot be solved by applying the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1.

An embodiment of the present invention has been made in view of the above problems. Prevent audio from being output.

In order to solve the above problems, a communication management device according to an embodiment of the present invention is a communication management device that manages voice transmission/reception communication between a plurality of terminal devices, a determination unit for determining a terminal device to execute the audio processing from among the terminal devices in the same area; and a terminal device different from the terminal device to execute the audio processing among the terminal devices in the same area. and a terminal control unit that instructs to stop processing.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, in a communication system in which voice is transmitted and received between a plurality of terminal devices, unnecessary voice is not output even when there are a plurality of terminal devices in the same area.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration of a communication system according to one embodiment; FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining unnecessary voices during transmission; FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining unnecessary voices when receiving a call; It is a figure showing an example of hardware constitutions of a computer concerning one embodiment. It is a figure which shows the example of the hardware constitutions of the portable terminal which concerns on one Embodiment. It is a figure showing an example of functional composition of a communications system concerning one embodiment. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing of a communication management server according to one embodiment; 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of identification processing according to the first embodiment; FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a selection screen according to the first embodiment; FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of grouping which concerns on 1st Embodiment. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of transmission settings according to the first embodiment; FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of reception setting according to the first embodiment; 9 is a flowchart showing an example of identification processing according to the second embodiment; FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of determination processing according to the third embodiment; FIG.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<System configuration>
2. Description of the Related Art Communication systems that encode audio signals and image signals and transmit/receive them via a communication network for video conferencing, web conferencing, or the like have become widespread. Of these, video conferencing involves, for example, one or more participants gathering in the same place (area) such as a conference room, and using a video conferencing device or the like to communicate with one or more participants in another location. and audio (or audio only). On the other hand, in a web conference, each participant uses an application program (hereinafter referred to as an application) executed by an information terminal such as a PC (Personal Computer), a tablet terminal, or a smartphone, or a web browser. Refers to the form of doing.

A communication system 1 according to the present embodiment is a system for conducting the web conference described above. In a communication system 1 that conducts a web conference, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of participants may gather in the same area such as a conference room and participate in the same web conference from a plurality of terminal devices.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration of a communication system according to one embodiment. In the example of FIG. 1, the communication system 1 includes a communication management server 100 connected to a communication network 10 such as the Internet or a LAN (Local Area Network), and a plurality of terminal devices 101a to 101e. In the following description, "terminal device 101" is used when indicating an arbitrary terminal device among the plurality of terminal devices 101a to 101e. Terminal devices 101a to 101c are terminal devices 101 used by participants who participate in the web conference from conference room X110 of base A, and terminal devices 101d and 101e are used by participants who participate in the web conference from conference room Y120 of base B. It is assumed that the terminal device 101 is used by a person.

A communication management server (communication management device) 100 is an information processing device having a computer configuration or a system including a plurality of computers, and manages a web conference (communication) in which voice is transmitted and received between a plurality of terminal devices 101. .

The terminal device 101 is, for example, an information terminal having a communication function such as a PC (Personal Computer), a tablet terminal, or a smart phone. The terminal device 101 executes, for example, a web conference application, a web browser, or the like, and accesses a predetermined URL (Uniform Resource Locator) provided by the communication management server 100 via the communication network 10 to access the web. Can participate in meetings. Note that the terminal device 101 is not limited to a general-purpose information terminal, and may be, for example, a dedicated terminal in which a web conference application is installed.

(About assignment)
As shown in FIG. 1, when participants participate in the same web conference from a plurality of terminal devices in the same area, for example, the microphones of the plurality of terminal devices 101 in the area pick up the speech of the participants and the terminal devices 101 Unnecessary sound may be output from the

FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining unnecessary voices during transmission. This figure shows an example of a mechanism in which unnecessary voices are generated when the communication management method according to this embodiment is not applied in the communication system 1 . In the conference room X110, when the participant 200a using the terminal device 101a speaks, the terminal devices 101a to 101c respectively acquire the speech (voice) of the participant 200a with a microphone, and convert the acquired speech into video data (or voice). data) to the communication management server 100. Also, the communication management server 100 transfers the video data (or audio data) received from the terminal devices 101a to 101c to the terminal devices 101d and 101e participating in the same web conference. As a result, for example, from the terminal devices 101c and 101d in the conference room Y120, the utterances of the participant 200a acquired by the terminal devices 101a to 101c are output in duplicate.

At this time, the utterances of the participant 200a output by the terminal devices 101d and 101e are output at different timings due to different delay times depending on, for example, the processing capabilities and communication speeds of the terminal devices 101a to 101e. Therefore, there is a problem that the participants in the conference room Y120 hear multiple delayed utterances (unnecessary voices) in addition to the utterances of the participant 200a.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining unnecessary voices when receiving a call. This figure shows another example of a mechanism for generating unnecessary sound when the communication management method according to this embodiment is not applied in the communication system 1 . In the conference room X110, when the participant 200a using the terminal device 101a speaks, the speech of the participant 200a is output from the terminal devices 101d and 101e in the conference room Y120 as described with reference to FIG. Similarly, the speech of the participant 200a is also output from the terminal devices 101b and 101c in the conference room X110 as shown in FIG. Therefore, not only the speech of the participant 200a directly reaches the other participant 200b in the conference room X110, but the speech (unnecessary voice) of the participant 200a output by the terminal devices 101b and 101c is delayed, And there is a problem that it arrives in duplicate.

As described above, in the conventional technology, in a web conference system (communication system) in which voice is transmitted and received between a plurality of terminal devices 101, unnecessary voice is output when there are a plurality of terminal devices 101 in the same area. There is a problem of storage.

Therefore, in the communication system 1 according to the present embodiment, the communication management server 100 selects the terminal devices 101 ( For example, the terminal device 101a) is determined. In addition, the communication management server 100 instructs terminal devices 101 (for example, terminal devices 101b and 101c) different from the terminal device executing the voice processing among the terminal devices 101 in the same area to stop the voice processing.

Therefore, in the communication system 1 according to the present embodiment, for example, in FIG. , unnecessary audio is no longer output. Also, in the communication system 1 according to the present embodiment, for example, in FIG. is no longer output.

As described above, according to this embodiment, in the communication system 1 in which voice is transmitted and received between a plurality of terminal devices 101, unnecessary voice is not output even when there are a plurality of terminal devices 101 in the same area.

<Hardware configuration>
(computer hardware configuration)
The communication management server 100 has, for example, the hardware configuration of a computer 400 as shown in FIG. Alternatively, the communication management server 100 is composed of multiple computers 400 . Also, the terminal device 101 has, as an example, the hardware configuration of a computer 400 as shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a computer according to one embodiment; The computer 400 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 401, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 402, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 403, an HD (Hard Disk) 404, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), as shown in FIG. ) controller 405, display 406, external device connection I / F (Interface) 407, one or more network I / F 408, keyboard 409, pointing device 410, DVD-RW (Digital Versatile Disk Rewritable) drive 412, media I / F 414 , and a bus line 415 and the like.

Among these, the CPU 401 controls the operation of the computer 400 as a whole. The ROM 402 stores programs such as an IPL (Initial Program Loader) used to start the computer 400 . The RAM 403 is used as a work area for the CPU 401, for example. The HD 404 stores, for example, an OS (Operating System), applications, programs such as device drivers, and various data. The HDD controller 405 controls reading or writing of various data to the HD 404 under the control of the CPU 401, for example.

The display 406 displays various information such as cursors, menus, windows, characters, or images. Note that the display 406 may be provided outside the computer 400 . A device connection I/F 407 is an interface for connecting various devices to the computer 400 . Devices connected to the device connection I/F 407 include, for example, a microphone 421, a speaker 422, a camera 423, and the like. Note that the microphone 421 , the speaker 422 , or the camera 423 may be built in the computer 400 .

One or more network I/Fs 308 are interfaces for connecting computer 400 to communication network 10 to communicate with other devices. A keyboard 409 is a type of input means having a plurality of keys for inputting characters, numerical values, various instructions, and the like. A pointing device 410 is a kind of input means for selecting and executing various instructions, selecting a processing target, moving a cursor, and the like. Note that the keyboard 409 and pointing device 410 may be provided outside the computer 400 .

A DVD-RW drive 412 controls reading or writing of various data to a DVD-RW 411 as an example of a removable recording medium. The DVD-RW 411 is not limited to the DVD-RW, and may be another removable recording medium such as a DVD-R. A media I/F 414 controls reading or writing (storage) of data to a media 413 such as a flash memory. A bus line 415 includes an address bus, a data bus, various control signals, and the like for electrically connecting the components described above.

The microphone 421 is a microphone that acquires (collects) sound. The speaker 422 is a speaker that converts an audio signal into sound. A camera 423 is a photographing device that photographs a conference image.

(Hardware configuration of mobile device)
The terminal device 101 may have, for example, the hardware configuration of a mobile terminal 500 (smartphone, tablet terminal, or the like) as shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a mobile terminal according to one embodiment; As shown in FIG. 5, the mobile terminal 500 includes a CPU 501, a ROM 502, a RAM 503, a storage device 504, a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) sensor 505, an image sensor I/F 506, an acceleration/azimuth sensor 507, a media I/ F509 and a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver 510 are provided.

Among these, CPU 501 controls the operation of mobile terminal 500 as a whole by executing a predetermined program. The ROM 502 stores programs such as IPL, which are used to start the CPU 501 . A RAM 503 is used as a work area for the CPU 501 . The storage device 504 is a large-capacity storage device that stores an OS, programs such as applications, and various data, and is realized by, for example, an SSD (Solid State Drive) or a flash ROM.

The CMOS sensor 505 is a type of built-in image pickup means that picks up an object (mainly self-portrait) under the control of the CPU 501 and obtains image data. Note that the mobile terminal 500 may have imaging means such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensor instead of the CMOS sensor 505 . An imaging device I/F 506 is a circuit that controls driving of the CMOS sensor 505 . The acceleration/direction sensor 507 is various sensors such as an electronic magnetic compass for detecting geomagnetism, a gyro compass, and an acceleration sensor. A media I/F 509 controls reading or writing (storage) of data to a medium (storage medium) 508 such as a flash memory. The GPS receiver 510 receives GPS signals (positioning signals) from GPS satellites.

In addition, the portable terminal 500 includes a long-distance communication circuit 511, an antenna 511a of the long-distance communication circuit 511, a CMOS sensor 512, an imaging element I/F 513, a microphone 514, a speaker 515, a sound input/output I/F 516, a display 517, and an external device. A connection I/F 518 , a short-range communication circuit 519 , an antenna 519 a of the short-range communication circuit 519 , and a touch panel 520 are provided.

Of these, telecommunications circuitry 511 is circuitry that communicates with other devices, for example, via communications network 10 . The CMOS sensor 512 is a type of built-in image pickup means that picks up an image of a subject and obtains image data under the control of the CPU 501 . An imaging device I/F 513 is a circuit that controls driving of the CMOS sensor 512 . Microphone 514 is a built-in circuit that converts sound into an electrical signal. The speaker 515 is a built-in circuit that converts electrical signals into physical vibrations to produce sounds such as music and voice. A sound input/output I/F 516 is a circuit for processing input/output of sound wave signals between the microphone 514 and the speaker 515 under the control of the CPU 501 .

The display 517 is a kind of display means such as liquid crystal or organic EL (Electro Luminescence) that displays an image of a subject, various icons, and the like. The external device connection I/F 518 is an interface for connecting various external devices. Near field communication circuitry 519 includes circuitry for performing near field wireless communication. The touch panel 520 is a kind of input means for operating the mobile terminal 500 by the user pressing the display 517 .

The mobile terminal 500 also includes a bus line 521 . The bus line 521 includes an address bus, a data bus, etc. for electrically connecting each component such as the CPU 501 shown in FIG.

<Functional configuration>
Next, the functional configuration of the communication system 1 will be described. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of a communication system according to one embodiment;

(Functional configuration of communication management server)
The communication management server (communication management device) 100 includes a communication unit 601, a communication management unit 602, an identification unit 603, a determination unit 604, and a terminal control unit 605 by executing a predetermined program on the computer 400 included in the communication management server 100. , and the storage unit 606 and the like. It should be noted that at least part of the functional configurations described above may be realized by hardware.

The communication unit 601 connects the communication management server 100 to the communication network 10 using, for example, the network I/F 408 and executes communication processing to communicate with other devices.

The communication management unit 602 executes communication management processing for managing communication (web conference) in which video including audio (or only audio) is transmitted and received between the plurality of terminal devices 101 . For example, the communication management unit 602 allows a plurality of terminal devices 101 accessing the same conference URL to participate in the same web conference, and relays video (or audio) transmitted and received by the plurality of terminal devices 101 . For the communication management processing executed by the communication management unit 602, conventional web conference system technology can be applied.

The identification unit 603 executes identification processing for identifying terminal devices 101 in the same area among the plurality of terminal devices 101 participating in the same web conference. In the example of FIG. 1, the identifying unit 603 identifies that the terminal devices 101a, 101b, and 101c are in the same area (conference room X110), and the terminal devices 101d and 101e are in the same area (conference room Y120).

As a specific example, the specifying unit 603 causes each terminal device 101 participating in the web conference to display a selection screen for selecting the terminal device 101 in the same area or the user using the terminal device. Further, the identifying unit 603 identifies (for example, groups) the terminal devices 101 in the same area based on the selection result on the selection screen.

As another example, the specifying unit 603 causes the terminal device 101 of the host who hosts the web conference to display a selection screen for selecting the terminal device 101 in each area, and based on the selection result on the selection screen, selects the terminal device 101 in the same area. You may specify the terminal device 101 in . Further, the identifying unit 603 causes the terminal device 101 to output a predetermined sound wave, for example, and identifies the other terminal device 101 that has acquired the sound wave and the terminal device 101 that has output the sound wave as terminal devices in the same area. It may be specified as 101.

The determination unit 604 executes a determination process of determining the terminal device 101 to execute the audio processing from among the plurality of terminal devices 101 in the same area identified by the identification unit 603 . For example, in the communication system 1 as shown in FIG. 2, the determination unit 604 selects terminal devices (or For example, the terminal device 101a) is determined.

Preferably, the determining unit 604, for example, in the communication system 1 as shown in FIG. 101a) is further determined. Note that the process of acquiring audio, the process of transmitting audio data, and the process of outputting audio are examples of audio processing. Further, variations of the determination processing in which the determining unit 604 determines the terminal device 101 that executes the audio processing will be described in a third embodiment described later.

The terminal control unit 605 executes terminal control processing for instructing a terminal device 101 other than the terminal device 101 executing the voice processing among the plurality of terminal devices 101 in the same area to stop the voice processing. For example, in conference room X110 of communication system 1 shown in FIG. Instructs to stop acquisition (or transmission of voice data). As a result, the voices (an example of unnecessary voices) acquired by the terminal devices 101b and 101c are not output from the terminal devices 101d and 101e in the conference room Y120.

Preferably, in the conference room X110 of the communication system 1 shown in FIG. It instructs the devices 101b and 101c to stop outputting audio. As a result, the sound acquired by the terminal device 101a (another example of unnecessary sound) is not output from the terminal devices 101b and 101c. Acquisition of voice, transmission of voice data, and output of voice are examples of voice processing.

The storage unit 606 is implemented by, for example, a program executed by the CPU 401, a storage device such as the HD 404, and the like, and stores various information, data, programs, and the like.

Note that the functional configuration of the communication management server 100 shown in FIG. 6 is an example. For example, each functional configuration of the communication management server 100 may be distributed and arranged in a plurality of computers 400 . For example, the communication management unit 602 may be implemented by a web conference system or the like external to the communication system 1 . Also, the storage unit 606 may use an external storage server of the communication system 1, a cloud service, or the like. Furthermore, at least part of the functional configurations of the communication management server 100 may be implemented by, for example, a program executed by a virtual machine on a cloud service.

(Functional configuration of terminal device)
For example, the CPU 401 (or CPU 501) executes a predetermined program so that the terminal device 101 includes a communication unit 611, a communication control unit 612, an audio control unit 613, an imaging unit 614, a display control unit 615, an operation reception unit 616, It implements an information transmission unit 617, a storage unit 618, and the like. It should be noted that at least part of the functional configurations described above may be realized by hardware. In FIG. 6, terminal devices 101b to 101e are assumed to have the same functional configuration as terminal device 101a.

The communication unit 611 connects the communication management server 100 to the communication network 10 using, for example, the network I/F 408 (or the long-distance communication circuit 511), and executes communication processing to communicate with other devices.

The communication control unit 612 connects to the communication management server 100 using the communication unit 611 and controls communication (web conference) for transmitting and receiving video including audio (or only audio) to and from other terminal devices 101 . For example, the communication control unit 612 encodes audio data acquired by the audio control unit 613 and image data acquired by the imaging unit 614 and transmits the encoded data to the communication management server 100 . The communication control unit 612 also outputs the audio data received from the communication management server 100 or the audio data included in the image data to the audio control unit 613 to output audio. The communication control unit 612 also outputs the image data to the display control unit 615 to output the image of the conference.

The audio control unit 613 executes audio processing for inputting and outputting audio using, for example, the microphone 421 (or the microphone 514) and the speaker 422 (or the speaker 515). For example, the audio control unit 613 acquires audio using the microphone 421 (or the microphone 514), converts the audio data into an audio signal, and outputs the audio to the speaker 422 (or the speaker 515). Executes the processing, etc.

The image capturing unit 614 uses, for example, the camera 423 (or the CMOS sensor 505) to capture an image of the conference (images of participants using the terminal device 101, etc.), converts it into image data in a predetermined format, and outputs the image data. Executes the shooting process.

The display control unit 615 executes display control processing for displaying various display screens on the display 406 (or the display 517), for example. For example, the display control unit 615 uses the image data of the conference output by the communication control unit 612 to display the image of the conference captured by the other terminal device 101 on the display screen. Further, the display control unit 615 displays a selection screen for selecting the terminal device 101 (or the user using the terminal device) in the same area on the display 406 under the control of the specifying unit 603 of the communication management server 100, for example. (or display 517) or the like.

The operation reception unit 616 executes operation reception processing for receiving an input operation, a selection operation, or the like by a participant using the terminal device 101 . For example, the operation receiving unit 616 receives selection operations and the like on the selection screen displayed by the display control unit 615 .

The information transmission unit 617 executes information processing for transmitting information of the terminal device 101 to the communication management server 100 . For example, the information transmitting unit 617, in response to a request from the communication management server 100, transmits information about hardware included in the terminal device 101 (for example, CPU model name, clock frequency, memory capacity, type of the terminal device 101, etc.). Send. In response to a request from the communication management server 100, the information transmission unit 617 measures information (for example, communication speed, CPU load, etc.) related to the processing capacity of the terminal device 101, and transmits the information to the communication management server 100. Also good. Furthermore, the information transmission section 617 may measure the sound pressure level of the voice acquired by the voice control section 613 and transmit the measurement result to the communication management server 100 in response to a request from the communication management server 100 .

The storage unit 618 is implemented by, for example, a program executed by the CPU 401 (or CPU 501), the HD 404 (or storage device 504), or the like, and stores various information, data, or programs.

Note that the functional configuration of the terminal device 101 shown in FIG. 6 is an example. For example, the display screen displayed by the terminal device 101 may be created by the communication management server 100, and the display control unit 615 may display the display screen created by the communication management server 100 on the display 417 or the like. Also, the function of the communication control unit 612 may be executed by a web application or the like provided by the communication management server 100 .

<Process flow>
Next, the processing flow of the communication management method according to this embodiment will be described.

(Processing of communication management server)
FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing of a communication management server according to one embodiment. This processing outlines the processing mainly executed by the communication management server 100 when starting a web conference. At the start of the process shown in FIG. 7, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of terminal devices 101 participating in the web conference have completed connection to the communication management server 100 via the communication network 10. shall be

In step S701, the identifying unit 603 identifies the terminal device 101 in the same area. For example, the identification unit 603 identifies that the terminal devices 101a, 101b, and 101c are in the same area and that the terminal devices 101d and 101e are in the same area in the communication system 1 as shown in FIG. It should be noted that the specific processing contents of the identifying process for identifying the terminal device 101 in the same area by the identifying unit 603 will be described later in the first embodiment.

In step S702, the determination unit 604 determines the terminal device 101 to execute voice processing from among the terminal devices 101a to 101e in the same area. For example, in the communication system 1 as shown in FIG. 1, the determining unit 604 determines a terminal device (for example, the terminal device 101a) that executes voice processing from among the terminal devices 101a to 101c in the same area. The specific processing contents of the determination processing for determining the terminal device 101 for executing the audio processing by the determination unit 604 will be described later.

In step S703, the terminal control unit 605 instructs the terminal device 101 executing voice processing among the plurality of terminal devices 101a to 101e to perform voice processing. For example, in the communication system 1 as shown in FIG. 1, the terminal control unit 605 executes the audio processing determined by the determination unit 604 from among the terminal devices 101a to 101c in the same area (eg, terminal device 101a) to execute voice processing. In addition, the terminal control unit 605 instructs the terminal device 101 (for example, the terminal device 101d) that executes voice processing among the plurality of terminal devices 101d and 101e to perform voice processing. Note that the processing of step S703 is not essential. For example, when the determination unit 604 determines the terminal device 101 that executes the voice processing from among the terminal devices 101 whose voice processing is set to ON, the processing of step S703 may be omitted.

In step S704, the terminal control unit 605 instructs other terminal devices 101 in the same area as the terminal device 101 executing the voice processing to stop the voice processing. For example, in the communication system 1 as shown in FIG. 1, the terminal control unit 605 controls other terminal devices (eg, terminal devices 101b and 101c) in the same area as the terminal device (eg, terminal device 101a) that executes voice processing. ) to stop voice processing.

Note that the terminal device 101 that has received the instruction to stop the audio processing stops, for example, acquisition of audio by the audio control unit 613 or transmission of audio data by the communication control unit 612 . Preferably, the terminal device 101 that has received the instruction to stop the audio processing also stops outputting the audio by the audio control unit 613 .

In step S<b>705 , the communication management unit 602 starts transmission/reception of voice and image or only voice by the plurality of terminal devices 101 .

Next, more specific processing contents of the communication management server 100 will be described by exemplifying a plurality of embodiments.

[First Embodiment]
(specific processing)
FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an example of identification processing according to the first embodiment. FIG. 8A shows an example of identification processing executed by the identification unit 603 of the communication management server 100 in step S701 of FIG. 7, for example.

In step S801, the identifying unit 603 causes the terminal device 101 participating in the web conference to display a selection screen 900 as shown in FIG. 9, for example.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of a selection screen according to the first embodiment. In the example of FIG. 9, a selection screen 900 includes a message 901 prompting the selection of users (participants) in the same place (area), and a user (participant) using a plurality of terminal devices 101a to 101e. A selection button 902 is displayed. In the example of FIG. 9, the selection screen 900 shows a state in which the buttons corresponding to the users (participants) using the terminal devices 101a to 101c in the conference room X110 of FIG. 1 are selected by the participants. there is

In step S<b>802 , the identifying unit 603 acquires the selection result for the selection screen 900 from each terminal device 101 .

In step S803, based on the selection result obtained from each terminal device 101, the identification unit 603 identifies the terminal devices 101a to 101e participating in the web conference as shown in FIGS. group.

FIG. 10A shows an example of grouping of the terminal devices 101a to 101e participating in the web conference by the specifying unit 603. FIG. In the example of FIG. 10A, for example, the terminal devices 101a to 101c selected on the selection screen 900 shown in FIG. 9 are assigned to the same group (group A). If the selection results obtained from a plurality of terminal devices 101 do not match, the identification unit 603 may perform grouping, for example, by majority vote or logical product (AND).

For example, the determining unit 604 determines one terminal device 101 to perform audio processing (for example, transmission and reception) in each of groups A and B grouped as shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 10A, the terminal device 101a is determined as the terminal device that performs voice processing in group A, and the terminal device 101e is determined as the terminal device that performs voice processing in group B. In the example of FIG.

FIG. 10B shows another example of grouping of the terminal devices 101a to 101e participating in the web conference by the specifying unit 603. In FIG. In the example of FIG. 10B, for example, users A to C selected on the selection screen 900 shown in FIG. 9 are assigned to the same group (group A). In the selection screen 900 shown in FIG. 9, the terminal devices 101a to 101e are associated with the users A to E. Therefore, the specifying unit 603 may divide the terminal devices 101 into groups, or group the terminal devices 101. Participants (users) who use the system may be grouped.

Note that the specifying unit 603 may specify, for example, that the terminal devices 101a to 101c are in the same area, and grouping is not essential. Further, the specifying unit 603 does not have to specify that the terminal devices 101a to 101c are in the conference room X110.

A method for determining one terminal device 101 that performs audio processing in each group by the determination unit 604 may basically be any method. For example, in group A, the determination unit 604 may determine the terminal device 101 that executes the voice processing according to the first received selection result among the selection results transmitted by the terminal devices 101a to 101c. Alternatively, in group A, the determining unit 604 may randomly determine the terminal device 101 to execute the voice processing from among the terminal devices 101a to 101c. A preferred example of determination processing by the determination unit 604 will be described in the third embodiment.

(Example of sending setting)
FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of transmission settings according to the first embodiment. In the example of FIG. 11, the terminal control unit 605 of the communication management server 100 turns on the transmission of the terminal device 101a based on the item of "transmission" in the grouping shown in FIG. ”, and the transmission of the terminal devices 101b and 101c is set to “OFF”. With the settings in FIG. 11, the terminal devices 101b and 101c do not acquire voice or transmit voice data. Become.

(Example of answer setting)
12A and 12B are diagrams illustrating an example of reception settings according to the first embodiment. FIG. In the example of FIG. 12, the terminal control unit 605 of the communication management server 100 sets the reception of the terminal device 101a to "ON" based on the item of "acceptance" in the grouping shown in FIG. 10A. , terminal devices 101b and 101c are set to "OFF". With the settings in FIG. 12, the terminal devices 101b and 101c do not output sound, so unnecessary sounds output by the terminal devices 101b and 101c are not output.

As described above, according to the first embodiment, in the communication system 1 in which voice is transmitted and received between a plurality of terminal devices 101, unnecessary voice is not output even when there are a plurality of terminal devices 101 in the same area.

[Modification]
FIG. 8B shows a modification of the identification process executed by the identification unit 603 of the communication management server 100 in step S701 of FIG. 7, for example.

In step S811, the specifying unit 603 causes the terminal device 101 of the host who hosts the web conference to display a selection screen for grouping the terminal devices 101a to 101e participating in the web conference.

In step S812, the specifying unit 603 acquires the selection result for the selection screen.

In step S813, the identifying unit 603 groups the plurality of terminal devices 101a to 101b participating in the web conference based on the obtained selection result, as shown in FIG. 10A, for example.

In this way, the selection screen for grouping the terminal devices 101a to 101e participating in the web conference may be displayed, for example, on the terminal device 101 used by a specific participant such as the host.

[Second embodiment]
In the second embodiment, for example, another example of the identification process executed by the identification unit 603 of the communication management server 100 in step S701 of FIG. 7 will be described. Here, the following description will be given assuming that the communication system 1 has a system configuration as shown in FIG.

In step S1301, the specifying unit 603 outputs a predetermined sound wave from any one terminal device 101 (hereinafter referred to as one terminal device) among the plurality of terminal devices 101a to 101e participating in the web conference. . The predetermined sound wave may be, for example, a sound wave of a predetermined frequency (such as a sine wave), or may be a combination of sound waves of a plurality of predetermined frequencies.

In step S1302, the identification unit 603 collects acquisition results of predetermined sound waves from the terminal devices 101 different from the one terminal device 101 among the plurality of terminal devices 101a to 101e. For example, the identifying unit 603 transmits a sound wave acquisition request to the other terminal device 101, and the information transmitting unit 617 of the other terminal device 101 acquires a predetermined sound wave using the voice control unit 613, and obtains a predetermined sound wave. The sound wave acquisition result is transmitted to the identification unit 603 .

In step S1303, the identifying unit 603 determines whether another terminal device 101 has acquired a predetermined sound wave. When another terminal device 101 acquires a predetermined sound wave (when one or more terminal devices 101 among the other terminal devices 101 acquire a predetermined sound wave), the identifying unit 603 shifts the process to step S1304. Let On the other hand, when the other terminal device 101 has not acquired the predetermined sound wave (when none of the other terminal devices 101 has acquired the predetermined sound wave), the identifying unit 603 performs the processing. The process proceeds to step S1306.

In step S1304, the specifying unit 603 groups the one terminal device 101 that has output the predetermined sound wave and the other terminal devices 101 that have acquired the predetermined sound wave into one group.

In step S1305, the specifying unit 603 excludes the grouped terminal devices 101 and causes the process to proceed to step S1307.

On the other hand, when the process proceeds from step S1303 to S1306, the specifying unit 603 excludes one terminal device 101 and causes the process to proceed to step S1307.

In step S1307, the identification unit 603 determines whether or not a plurality of terminal devices 101 remain except for the terminal device 101 excluded in step S1305 or step S1306. If a plurality of terminal devices 101 remain, the identifying unit 603 returns the processing to step S1301 and executes the processing from step S1301 on the remaining plurality of terminal devices 101 . On the other hand, if a plurality of terminal devices 101 do not remain, the specifying unit 603 terminates the processing of FIG. 13 .

13, the specifying unit 603 groups the plurality of terminal devices 101a to 101e participating in the web conference into the plurality of terminal devices 101 in the same area without depending on the selection operation by the participants. be able to.

[Third Embodiment]
In the third embodiment, for example, in step S702 of FIG. 7, variations of determination processing executed by the determination unit 604 of the communication management server 100 will be described.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example of determination processing according to the third embodiment. FIG. 14A shows an example of determination processing executed by the determination unit 604. FIG. Here, it is assumed that the identification unit 603 groups the terminal devices 101a to 101c into group A and the terminal devices 101c and 101e into group B, as shown in FIG. 10A, for example.

In step S1401, the determination unit 604 selects the hardware of each terminal device 101 from the terminal devices 101a to 101e participating in the web conference or the terminal devices (for example, the terminal devices 101a to 101c) of the group to be subjected to determination processing. Get hardware information.

As an example, the determination unit 604 transmits an information acquisition request to the terminal devices 101a to 101c to request acquisition of a terminal type (an example of hardware information) such as a PC, a tablet terminal, or a smartphone. On the other hand, upon receiving the information acquisition request, the information transmission unit 617 of the terminal device 101 transmits the requested terminal type information to the communication management server 100 . Since the application for the terminal device 101 differs depending on the terminal type, the information transmission unit 617 transmits information indicating whether the application is for a PC, a tablet terminal, or a smartphone. may be transmitted to the communication management server 100 as

As another example, the determining unit 604 sends an information acquisition request to the terminal devices 101a to 101c to acquire hardware information such as the model name of the CPU included in each terminal device 101, the operating frequency, or the memory capacity. You can send it. In this case, the information transmission unit 617 of the terminal device 101 acquires the requested hardware information by using functions such as the OS executed by the terminal device 101, and transmits the acquired hardware information to the communication management server 101. Send to

In step S1402, the determination unit 604 selects the terminal device with the highest hardware performance from among the terminal devices (for example, the terminal devices 101a to 101c) of the group to be subjected to the determination process as the terminal device that executes the voice processing. decide.

As an example, the determination unit 604 determines in advance a priority order (PC>tablet terminal>smartphone, etc.) in descending order of hardware performance for the types of the terminal devices 101 . Further, the determination unit 604 may determine the terminal device 101 having the highest hardware performance among the terminal devices 101a to 101c based on this priority order. Note that when there are a plurality of terminal devices 101 with the same priority, the determination unit 604 may randomly determine one terminal device 101 from among the plurality of terminal devices 101, for example.

As another example, the determination unit 604 uses a database in which indexes indicating hardware performance are stored in advance for each CPU model name, and selects the terminal device 101 having the highest hardware performance among the terminal devices 101a to 101c. may be determined. Note that if there are a plurality of terminal devices 101 with the same priority, the determining unit 604 selects the terminal device 101 with the highest operating frequency or the terminal device 101 with the largest memory capacity from among the plurality of terminal devices 101 as the hardest. The terminal device 101 with high wear performance may be determined.

Through the above processing, the determination unit 604 executes voice processing from among the terminal devices 101a to 101c in the same area, among the plurality of terminal devices 101a to 101e, based on the hardware information of the terminal device 101. One terminal device 101 to be used can be determined.

FIG. 14B shows another example of determination processing executed by the determination unit 604 .

In step S1411, the determination unit 604 selects from the terminal devices 101a to 101e participating in the web conference or the terminal devices (for example, the terminal devices 101a to 101c) of the group to be subjected to the determination processing. Get ability information. For example, the determination unit 604 transmits an information acquisition request requesting acquisition of information on the processing capability of the terminal device 101 to the terminal devices 101a to 101c. On the other hand, upon receiving the information acquisition request, the information transmission unit 617 of the terminal device 101 transmits information on the requested processing capacity to the communication management server 100 . Here, the information on the processing capability of the terminal device 101 may include, for example, the communication speed (or response speed) of the terminal device 101, the load factor of the CPU, the available memory capacity, and the like. However, it is not limited to this.

In step S1412, the determination unit 604 selects the terminal device 101 having the highest processing capability among the terminal devices (for example, the terminal devices 101a to 101c) of the group to be subjected to the determination process as the terminal device that executes the voice processing. decide. For example, when the processing capability information of the terminal device 101 is the response speed of the terminal device 101, the determination unit 604 selects the terminal device 101 having the fastest response speed among the terminal devices 101a to 101c as the terminal that executes voice processing. Decide on the device.

Through the above processing, the determination unit 604 selects, for example, among the plurality of terminal devices 101a to 101e, among the terminal devices 101a to 101c located in the same area, based on the information on the processing capability of the terminal device 101, to perform voice processing. One terminal device 101 to be executed can be determined.

FIG. 14C shows another example of determination processing executed by the determination unit 604 .

In step S1421, the determination unit 604 outputs the sound of each terminal device 101a to 101e participating in the web conference or from the terminal devices (for example, the terminal devices 101a to 101c) of the group subject to the determination process. Get pressure level measurements. For example, the determining unit 604 transmits an information acquisition request requesting acquisition of sound pressure level measurement results to the terminal devices 101a to 101c. On the other hand, upon receiving the information acquisition request, the information transmission unit 617 of the terminal device 101 uses the audio control unit 613 to calculate the average value of the sound pressure levels around the terminal device 101 . At this time, the sound source for which the information transmission unit 617 measures the sound pressure level may be a conversation between participants, or a predetermined sound is output from the terminal device 101 or another device (for example, a smartphone). and measure the sound pressure level thereof.

In step S1422, the determination unit 604 selects the terminal device 101 having the highest sound pressure level among the terminal devices (for example, the terminal devices 101a to 101c) of the group to be subjected to the determination processing. to decide.

Through the above processing, the determination unit 604 selects the terminal devices 101a to 101c located in the same area among the plurality of terminal devices 101a to 101e based on the sound pressure level measurement result of the terminal device 101 to perform the audio processing. One terminal device 101 to be executed can be determined.

In each of the above embodiments, for example, as shown in FIG. 10A, the terminal device 101 that sets the transmission line to "ON" and the terminal device 101 that sets the reception line to "ON" are the same terminal device. 101 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the determining unit 604 may determine the terminal device 101 to set the transmit line to "ON" and the terminal apparatus 101 to set the receive line to "ON" as different terminal devices 101. FIG.

As described above, according to each embodiment of the present invention, in the communication system 1 that transmits and receives voice between a plurality of terminal devices 101, unnecessary voice is not output even if there are a plurality of terminal devices 101 in the same area. .

<Supplement>
Each function of each embodiment described above can be realized by one or more processing circuits. Here, the "processing circuit" in this specification means a processor programmed by software to perform each function, such as a processor implemented by an electronic circuit, or a processor designed to perform each function described above. ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), DSPs (digital signal processors), FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays) and devices such as conventional circuit modules.

Moreover, the devices described in the examples are only representative of one of several computing environments for implementing the embodiments disclosed herein. In some embodiments, communication management server 100 includes multiple computing devices, such as a server cluster. Multiple computing devices are configured to communicate with each other over any type of communication link, including a network, shared memory, etc., to perform the processes disclosed herein.

1 communication system 100 communication management server (communication management device)
101, 101a to 101e terminal device 603 identification unit 604 determination unit 605 terminal control unit 900 selection screen

JP-A-10-243110

Claims (10)

A communication management device that manages communication for transmitting and receiving audio between a plurality of terminal devices,
a determination unit that determines, from among the plurality of terminal devices, a terminal device that performs voice processing from among the terminal devices in the same area;
a terminal control unit that instructs a terminal device different from the terminal device executing the voice processing among the terminal devices in the same area to stop the voice processing;
A communication management device having 2. The communication management device according to claim 1, further comprising a specifying unit that specifies terminal devices in the same area. The specifying unit causes one or more terminal devices to display a selection screen for selecting a terminal device in the same area or a user who uses the terminal device, and based on the selection result on the selection screen, the same area is displayed. 3. The communication management device according to claim 2, which specifies a certain terminal device. The specifying unit causes one of the plurality of terminal devices to output a predetermined sound wave, and identifies the other terminal device that has acquired the predetermined sound wave as a terminal device in the same area as the one terminal device. 3. The communication management device according to claim 2, specifying. The determination unit acquires information of the terminal device from the plurality of terminal devices or terminal devices in the same area, and determines a terminal device that executes the voice processing based on the information of the terminal device. The communication management device according to any one of claims 1 to 4. 6. The communication management apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the information on said terminal device includes information on hardware provided in said terminal device or information on processing capability of said terminal device. The determination unit acquires sound pressure level measurement results of sound waves from the plurality of terminal devices or terminal devices in the same area, and determines a terminal device that performs the audio processing based on the measurement results. The communication management device according to any one of claims 1 to 6. 8. Any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the audio processing includes one or more of a process of acquiring audio, a process of transmitting audio data, and a process of outputting audio by the terminal device. The communication management device according to . A communication management device that manages voice transmission/reception communication between a plurality of terminal devices,
A process of determining a terminal device to execute voice processing from among the terminal devices in the same area among the plurality of terminal devices;
A process of instructing a terminal device different from the terminal device executing the voice processing among the terminal devices in the same area to stop the voice processing;
communication management method. A communication management device that manages voice transmission/reception communication between multiple terminal devices,
A process of determining a terminal device to execute voice processing from among the terminal devices in the same area among the plurality of terminal devices;
A process of instructing a terminal device different from the terminal device executing the voice processing among the terminal devices in the same area to stop the voice processing;
The program that causes the to run.

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