JP2549098B2 - Transmission control device for electronic conference system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a transmission control device of an electronic conference system for multipoint connection.

(Prior Art) As a conventional electronic conference system, for example, there is one as shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, this electronic conference system includes a microphone 1, a speaker 2, a television camera 3 for displaying an image of a conference room, a television camera 4 for displaying an original, a television monitor 5, a facsimile device 6, and a hard copy device as a printer. 7. An audio unit 8 for encoding and decoding audio signals of the microphone 1 and the speaker 2, an image unit 9 for encoding and decoding image signals, a control unit 10 for controlling the image unit, and instructions for the control unit. It is composed of an operation unit 11 for inputting and a transmission unit 12 for transmitting and receiving audio signals and image signals.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In such a conventional electronic conferencing system, multipoint connection for conducting a conference simultaneously between a plurality of points may be performed, and in this case, a separate multipoint control device is installed on the line. I had a conference between multiple points, but when the number of terminal devices increased, the multipoint control device became busy, so it was necessary to reserve a conference, etc., and there was a problem that multipoint connection could not be easily done. there were.

The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and provides a transmission control device of an electronic conferencing system capable of easily performing multipoint connection without providing a separate multipoint control device on the line side. The purpose is to

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving Problems) The present invention relates to a transmission control device for an electronic conference system that controls transmission of data transmitted and received between a plurality of conference unit systems connected via a line. In the above, there is provided interface means having at least two lines for performing packet communication of data, a telephone device having at least two lines, and switching means for switching between the interface means and the telephone device. While the first conference unit system and the second conference unit system among the plurality of conference unit systems are setting up the call, the third conference unit system different from the first and second conference unit systems is set to the first conference unit system. And when setting up a call to the second conference unit system, it is different from the line used in the first and second conference unit systems. Perform call setup by using the line, when further said first conference unit system and the second conference unit system is performing packet communication data, the third conference unit first and second
When setting up a call to a conference unit of
The call setting is performed by using a line different from the line being used in the conference unit system.

(Operation) When the conference unit system A and the conference unit system B are performing call setting, the conference unit system C
When setting up call to the conference unit systems A and B, the call is set up by using a line different from the line in use.
Conference unit system A and conference unit system B
Even when the conference unit system C sets up a call to the conference unit systems A and B when and are performing packet communication of data, the line is set using a line different from the line in use. In this way, multipoint connection is established.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example of the present invention is described in detail based on a drawing.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a conference unit system according to an embodiment of the electronic conference system of the present invention.

The control device 900 is connected with input devices of drawing system, still image system, moving image system, and audio system, and is connected with output devices of soft copy system, hard copy system, and audio system. Signals from these input devices and signals to the output device are subjected to selection, multiplexing, and other processing by some control information signals, and transmitted.

As the input device, a plurality of drawing input devices 100 for inputting handwritten characters and graphics, a still image input device 200 for inputting document manuscripts before or during a meeting, and a background of a meeting attendee or a meeting place. A moving image input device 300 for inputting an image and a voice input device 400 for inputting voice are connected.

Further, the output device makes a copy of the flat display device 150 and the graphic display device (1) 160, the graphic display device (1) 160, which displays the input information of its own terminal, the drawing system transmitted, and the still image system. Hard copy device 250, graphic display device (2) for displaying the input information of its own terminal and moving image system that is transmitted (2)
350, an audio output device 450 for outputting transmitted audio input information is connected.

Further, the storage device 600 calls and records these input / output information. The transmission device 700 is connected to the other two conference unit systems at the remote location.

The above input / output information flows according to signals from devices such as an operation input device 850, a state detection device 800 for detecting the presence or absence of a conference participant, and a speaker identification device 510 for determining a speaker from the voice of a talker. The destination is controlled.

 Next, the transmission control device 700 will be described.

The frame information generated in each device in the electronic conference system is bucketed by the transmission control device 700 as shown in FIG. 3 and transmitted to another electronic conference system. Also, the frames transmitted from other electronic conferencing systems are
It is received by the transmission control device 700 and distributed to each device in the system.

The electronic conferencing system of this embodiment is 2B + D (B; 64kbp
s, D; 16 kbps) basic access to connect to the ISDN network. That is, the transmission control device 700 is CCITT
Standardization work is in progress. It has a 4-wire home bus interface and can access the home bus through an information outlet.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the transmission control device 700.

This transmission control device 700 includes a line terminating device (NTI) 701 which is an interface with an ISDN network and a physical layer interface (INF) 7 which is an interface with a home bus.
02, packet components, packet generation / decomposition circuits (PAD) 703 and 704 for decomposing, a telephone interface (TEL) 705 to which a handset is connected, a signaling control unit (SIG) 706 for controlling call connection, Input / output buffer (BU
F) 707 to 710, a handset 711, an interface (IF) 712 connected to the system bus, a switch 713 for switching modes, an OR circuit 714 for detecting buffer overflow, and a keyboard 715. There is. Reference numeral 716 represents an ISDN network, and reference numerals 717 and 718 represent T lines and R lines of a four-wire home bus.

The part shown by the broken line in the figure represents the interface means 750 for performing packet communication of data.

A 4-wire home bus composed of T lines 717 and 718 is connected to an ISDN network 716 via a line terminating device (NTI) 701.

The physical layer interface (INF) 702 is an R line
The clock is extracted from the received signal of 718, frame synchronization is established, and data of B1, B2, and D channels is received. At the same time, the transmission data for the B1, B2, and D channels are input and transmitted to the T line 717.

Further, the switch 713 is switched between a normal telephone mode and a teleconference mode by a control signal MODE from the conference support unit 991 described later.
Channels 1 and B2 are connected to the handset 711 via the telephone interface 705. This phone is B1, B
It has two lines of 2, and two telephone numbers #A and #B are assigned.

Then, the signaling control unit (SIG) 706 receives information such as normal telephone call setup and cancellation from the keyboard (KEY) 715, and this information is sent to the ISDN network 716 via the D channel, and the B1 and B2 channels. The connection is made a number of times.

On the other hand, when the switch 713 is in the teleconference mode, the data of each channel of B1 and B2 is sent to the packet generation / decomposition circuits (PAD) 703 and 704, the header and the error detection code are removed, and then the buffer (BUF) 707. ~ 710, via the interface (IF) 712, to the internal bus of the electronic conference system.

The buffers 707 and 708 are prohibited from outputting the buffer when the output device in the electronic conference system is busy. Furthermore, when these buffers become full, control signal C1,
The packet generation / decomposition circuit (PAD) 703, 704 is notified by C3, and the packet generation / decomposition circuit (PAD) 703, 704 generates a management packet indicating unreceivability, sends it to another terminal, and notifies it of buffer full. .

On the other hand, when a packet that cannot be received is sent from the partner terminal, the packet disassembly generation circuit (PAD) 703, 704.
Prohibits the output of the buffers 709 and 710. When this buffer is full, the control signal TBU is sent via the OR circuit 714.
SY is notified to the control device 900, and based on this information, the control device 900 instructs the input device in the electronic conference system to prohibit input.

Next, the state of call setting of this electronic conference system will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5.

In Fig. 4, the broken line is the line of a normal PCM telephone, the solid line is B1 performed in the teleconference mode,
It is a line for packet communication via the B2 channel. At the initial stage, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), the conference unit systems A and B set up calls by ordinary telephones using the B1 channel, respectively. And a new participation system C
As shown in FIGS. 4 (b) and 4 (c), the same telephone (B2 channel) is used to set up the call with the A and B systems, and then the entire system is switched to the teleconference mode (4th line). As shown in FIG. 6D), the teleconference by packet data is started. This switching is performed by exchanging a monitoring frame indicating the start of packet communication between the terminals. The termination of the teleconference mode is also performed by exchanging a supervisory frame indicating the end of packet communication.

Another call setup procedure is shown in FIG. In this case, as shown in (a) and (b) of FIG.
Suppose a teleconference using channels has begun. At this time, the new participation system C is B2 of A and B.
After a normal call is made to the channel telephone and the line is set up, a three-party teleconference is possible.

As described above, this electronic conference system can easily carry out a three-party teleconference without preparing a multipoint control unit on the network side.

[Effects of the Invention] As described in detail above, according to the present invention, multipoint connection can be easily performed without providing a separate multipoint control device on the line side.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a transmission identification control device, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an electronic conference system, FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a transmission packet, and FIGS. 4 and 5 are explanatory diagrams showing a call setting state. FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a conventional electronic conference system. 703, 704 ... Packet generation 705 ... Telephone interface 707, 705, 709, 710 ... Buffer 711 ... Interface 713 ... Switch

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Hirokazu Sakano, 1 Komukai Toshiba-cho, Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Toshiba Research Institute, Inc. (72) Inventor Fukushige Ogawa 1 Komukai-shiba, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Address: Toshiba Research Institute, Inc. (72) Inventor: Masayoshi Aihara 1 Komukai Toshiba-cho, Sachi-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Inside Toshiba Research Institute: (56) Reference JP-A-58-120359 (JP, A) JP 57-111166 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A transmission control device of an electronic conferencing system for controlling transmission of data transmitted and received between a plurality of conference unit systems connected via lines, wherein at least two lines for packet communication of data are provided. An interface unit having the same; a telephone device having at least two lines; and a switching unit for switching between the interface unit and the telephone device, and a first conference unit system among the plurality of conference unit systems. While the call is being set up with the second conference unit system, a third unit different from the first and second units is set up.
When the conference unit system of No. 1 makes call setting to the first and second conference unit systems, the call setting is performed by using a line different from the line being used in the first and second conference unit systems, Further, when the first conference unit system and the second conference unit system are performing packet communication of data, when the third conference unit sets up a call to the first and second conference units, A transmission control device for an electronic conferencing system, wherein call setting is performed by using a line different from a line being used in the first and second conference unit systems.