JP2591033B2 - Document communication method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION (Industrial application field) The present invention relates to multimedia communication such as text, voice, graphics, and still images in multimedia document communication, especially in conversational communication services such as database search and conference services. The present invention relates to a communication method for a multimedia document composed of information.

(Prior Art) Conventionally, many document structures including still images, graphics, audio, text, and the like have been proposed and standardized.
As shown in FIG. 4, these document structures are defined as a model in which regions including a plurality of pieces of media information are superimposed. The document is a rectangular area called a block in page 30
It is configured by combining 31a, 31b, 31c, 31d. Each of the blocks stores single media information. The audio information is also held in the same format, but is output in the form of audio 32.

In order to communicate a document having such a configuration between terminals and hosts connected to a network, a standard document model structure is defined as a communication protocol, and information encoded according to the document structure is collectively communicated. A method is used. On the other hand, a large amount of information such as image information and audio information,
In the case of communicating non-coded information, a method has been proposed in which a communication service directly controls communication (Computer, 10, 1985, pp. 82-92). In this method, a communication service determines a document transmission procedure in the order of text, image, and voice, and encodes and transmits data in that order. This method enables communication of multimedia documents using a communication protocol that can only send existing character information.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) However, in the method of communicating collectively encoded documents, since one document is communicated as a group, the communication delay time depends on the contents of the document, and information such as voice information and image information is transmitted. The response time is slow for a document containing a large amount of data, and it is difficult to realize a high-speed response in a conversational communication service such as a database search or a conference service. Further, in a method in which the communication service directly determines the communication order, there is a disadvantage that it is difficult to exchange information between different systems because the document structure depends on the communication service.

An object of the present invention is to provide a document communication method which realizes high-speed response of document communication, allows a user to easily specify the order of communication between document components, and exchanges documents between different systems. is there.

(Means for Solving the Problems) A document communication method according to the present invention is a method for communicating document information between a plurality of terminals connected to a network, wherein the document component includes a plurality of media information and the document configuration. A communication procedure control unit that describes the communication order of the elements, a document is constructed, and at the time of communication, the transmission terminal interprets the communication procedure control unit and sequentially transmits the document components in accordance with the communication order; Wherein the communication procedure control unit is reconfigured based on the order of the received document components.

(Operation) The document communication method of the present invention will be described.

Even if audio information and image information use data compression technology,
The amount of information is relatively large compared to character and data information. Therefore, in the case of a multimedia document that includes voice information and image information in character information and data information, if the document is encoded as it is and sent as a whole, the entire transmission information increases, transmission delay time increases, and e-mail Although it can handle non-conversational services such as this, it transmits and receives documents containing voice and images with high response time for services that require conversational responses, such as database search and conference systems. Things are difficult.

Therefore, in the method of the present invention, instead of sending all documents at once, the communication service communicates in units of document components.
For example, in a conversational service, text information is sent first, displayed on the screen, and then voice is sent, and while the content of the text information is explained by voice output, image information is communicated. , Or by processing communication and storage in a pipeline manner, it is possible to speed up the response time. Here, the document component unit is a document content made of single media information.

However, if the communication procedure is determined on the service side, it is difficult to exchange information between different systems. Therefore, the communication procedure is also added as a document component as a communication procedure control unit to the document structure. At the time of communication, the transmission terminal interprets the communication procedure control unit and sequentially transmits the document component units according to the communication procedure. Then, in the receiving terminal, the communication procedure control unit is reconfigured based on the received order of the document component units, and communication of the entire document can be realized.

Therefore, in the method of the present invention, the specification of the response speed and the display order that differ for each communication service can be released to the user as the description of the communication procedure. Therefore, the document communication method of the present invention has the flexibility that the service can construct an optimum communication procedure.

Further, since the communication procedure control unit is character information,
Can be created and maintained using a text information input and editing system. Also, by standardizing the description format,
Data can be exchanged between different systems.

Further, when the communication procedure control unit is not necessary in the existing non-conversational service or the like, there is no problem if the communication is performed by ignoring the contents as one of the character information.

In the following description of document communication, only the communication procedure will be described. The actual communication of each piece of media information is performed using a protocol corresponding to the network.

(Embodiment) FIGS. 1 (a), (b), (c) and (d) are diagrams for explaining an embodiment of a multimedia document communication method according to the present invention. FIG. 1A shows the data structure of a multimedia document handled by the method of this embodiment. In the figure, 1 is a communication procedure control unit describing a communication order, 2a and 2b are character information, 3 is graphics information, 4 is audio information, 5 is image information, 6a, 6b,
6c, 6d, and 6e are identifiers for uniquely identifying each of the media information. It is assumed that each of the media information is coded by the respective method and stored on the terminal.

FIG. 1 (b) is a specific example of the communication procedure control unit 1. It is composed of the above-mentioned identifiers 6a, 6b, 6c, 6d, 6e separated by end point symbols 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d, 7e and an end-of-file symbol (EOF) 8. The order of the identifiers is the communication order.

FIGS. 1 (c) and 1 (d) are diagrams for explaining the communication procedure of the multimedia document represented in FIGS. 1 (a) and 1 (b). Description will be made on the assumption that connection between terminals has already been completed.

 The transmitting terminal transmits in the following procedure.

The transmitting terminal transmits a document transmission request to the receiving terminal (10
0).

In order to interpret the communication control unit, a scanning start point is set at the head of the communication control unit 1 (101).

Next, the communication procedure control unit 1 interprets up to the end-of-file code 8 and determines whether the transmission is completed (102).

If the transmission has not yet been completed, the communication procedure control unit 1 is scanned, and up to the next terminal code is used as the identifier of the document component to be transmitted next (103).

The document component information of the identifier is transmitted to the receiving terminal together with the document component transmission request and the identifier (104), and the process returns to the step.

When all the contents indicated by the communication procedure control unit 1 have been transmitted, a document transmission end request is transmitted to the receiving terminal (105), and the communication is completed (106). On the other hand, the receiving terminal receives in the following procedure.

Preparations are made to secure an area for reconfiguring the communication control unit 1 in response to a document transmission request (200).

Receiving document component data from the sending terminal (20
1).

It is determined whether the request is a document transmission end request (202).

If they are different (the document component transmission request is received), the identifier data is added to the reconfigured communication control unit (20).
3), fetch the document component information and return to.

Upon receiving the document transmission end request, the file end symbol 8 is added to the reconfigured communication procedure control unit 1 to complete (204), and the communication is completed.

FIG. 2 is a time chart for specifically explaining the communication procedure of the document communication method according to the present embodiment. This time chart shows a communication sequence when the multimedia document having the structure shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B is communicated by the method shown in FIGS. 1C and 1D.

A document transmission request is sent from the sending terminal to the receiving terminal (1
1).

Upon receiving the document transmission request, the receiving terminal responds (AC
K) is returned to the transmitting terminal (12).

According to the contents of the communication procedure control unit 1, data of the document component with the identifier of "character 1" is transmitted from the transmitting terminal to the receiving terminal (13).

The receiving terminal returns an acknowledgment (ACK) for completing the reception of the "character 1" data to the transmitting terminal (14).

Thereafter, similarly, according to the contents of the communication procedure control unit 1,
Data of document components with identifiers of “graphics 1”, “audio 1”, “still image 1”, and “character 2” are sequentially transmitted from the transmitting terminal to the receiving terminal (15, 17, 19, 21).

The receiving terminal responds each time it completes receiving “Graphics 1”, “Audio 1”, “Still image 1”, and “Character 2” data (AC
K) is returned to the transmitting terminal (16, 18, 20, 22).

When all the contents of the communication procedure control unit 1 have been transmitted,
A character transmission end request is transmitted to the receiving terminal (23).

Upon receiving the document transmission end request, the receiving terminal returns an acknowledgment (ACK) to the transmitting terminal to complete the communication (24).

FIG. 3 shows a communication message fort mat of the document communication method of the present embodiment. From the beginning of the communication message, 51 is the message identifier, 52 is the total message length, 53 is the identifier indicating the document component identifier data, 54 is the message length of the document component identifier, 55 is the document component identifier data, 56
Is an identifier indicating the document component data, 57 is the message length of the document component data, and 58 is the document component data. The message identifier 51 contains the document transmission request, the document component transmission request, and the document transmission end request.The total message length 52 is an identifier 53 indicating the document component identifier data, and the message length 5 of the document component identifier.
4. The document component identifier data 55, the identifier 56 indicating the document component data, the message length 57 of the fragment component data, and the total message length up to the document component data 58. When the message identifier 51 is the document transmission request or the document transmission end request, the identifier 53 and the subsequent parts indicating the document component identifier data are omitted.

Here, only the communication procedure has been described. As a specific usage, in the above description, audio information is transmitted during drawing of graphics information, and after drawing is completed, still image information is received while text information and graphics information are explained by voice. It becomes possible. However, the realization of these operations is left to the user who creates each service and document.

(Effect of the Invention) According to the present invention, when a multimedia document communication method is used, in a multimedia document in which character information, data information, voice information, and image information are mixed, the communication order can be set according to a user or a service request. , High-speed response of conversational services can be realized.

Further, since the format of the communication control unit is standardized, communication of documents independent of services can be simultaneously realized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

1 (a), 1 (b), 1 (c) and 1 (d) are diagrams for explaining an embodiment of the document communication method according to the present invention. FIG. 1 (a) shows the document structure and FIG. 1 (b). FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the specific contents of the communication procedure control unit, FIG. 6C is a diagram for explaining the procedure of the transmitting terminal, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a time chart showing a communication procedure of the embodiment,
FIG. 3 is a view for explaining a message format of the embodiment, and FIG. 4 is a view for explaining a multimedia document model handled by the present invention. In the figure, 1 is a communication procedure control unit, 2a and 2b are character information,
3 is graphics information, 4 is audio information, 5 is image information,
6a, 6b, 6c, 6d are identifiers, 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d, 7e are terminal symbols, 8
Is a file terminator.

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A method for communicating document information between a plurality of terminals connected to a network, the method comprising: transmitting a document component comprising a plurality of media information; and a communication procedure control unit describing a communication order of the document component. In communication, at the time of communication, the transmitting terminal interprets the communication procedure control unit, sequentially transmits the document components according to the communication order, and at the receiving terminal, performs the communication based on the order of the received document components. A document communication method comprising reconfiguring a procedure control unit.