JP5255412B2 - Telephone system and telephone control method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a telephone control technique, and more particularly to a technique for distributing video from one terminal to a plurality of terminals.

The telephone system is a system that realizes a call by a terminal using a communication technology such as VoIP by performing data communication between a telephone control device and a plurality of terminals via a communication line such as a LAN or WAN.
As an example of such a telephone system, there is a telephone system using a TV door phone. The TV door phone has a camera that captures a video of a visitor, and has a function of distributing the captured video in response to a call operation by the visitor. Thereby, after confirming the video of the visitor at each terminal, it becomes possible to respond to the call from the visitor.

  In such a telephone system, a video distribution terminal such as a TV door phone is provided with a function of transmitting video by unicast via a communication line, and is distributed from the video distribution terminal to other terminals by individual unicast. There is. However, in such a method, when the number of terminals serving as distribution destinations is large, the transmission processing load of the video distribution terminal increases and the network load between the video distribution terminal and the distribution destination terminal increases. There is.

  Conventionally, as a video distribution technique in such a video distribution system, a technique has been proposed in which a video exchange terminal temporarily receives video transmitted by unicast from a video distribution terminal, and distributes the video from the exchange to a plurality of terminals by multicast. (For example, see Patent Document 1). According to this, it is possible to reduce the transmission processing load on the video distribution terminal, and to reduce the network load between the video distribution terminal and the exchange and the network load between the exchange and the distribution destination terminal. .

JP 2006-254111 A

However, in such a conventional technique, it is necessary to receive a video transmitted from a video distribution terminal by unicast once with an exchange, and convert it into a multicast for distribution. For this reason, there has been a problem that the processing load of protocol conversion in the exchange increases.
The present invention is for solving such problems, and a telephone system and a telephone capable of distributing video from a video distribution terminal to a plurality of terminals without increasing a network load and a protocol conversion processing load. It aims to provide a control method.

  In order to achieve such an object, a telephone system apparatus according to the present invention includes a plurality of terminals having a video display function and a voice call function, a telephone control apparatus connected to these terminals via a communication line, and a video. A telephone system for controlling a call related to the terminal and the video distribution terminal by performing call control of the terminal and the video distribution terminal by a telephone control device, wherein the video distribution terminal Sometimes a control unit that transmits a call message to the telephone control device, a multicast transmission processing unit that distributes video by multicast according to a video distribution request message from the telephone control device, and a voice communication request message from the telephone control device The unicast is used to transmit input audio and receive and output audio from the unicast. The telephone control device transmits a call message to the terminal according to the call message from the video distribution terminal, and other terminals other than the response terminal according to the response message from the terminal. In response to the call message from the video distribution terminal and the call processing unit that transmits the call stop message to the video distribution terminal, the video distribution request message is transmitted to the video distribution terminal, and the audio request message is distributed according to the response message from the terminal. A terminal and a media control unit that transmits to the response terminal. The terminal receives and displays video from the multicast in response to a call message from the telephone control device, and responds to a call stop message from the telephone control device. Multicast reception processing unit that stops video reception from multicast and telephone control A control unit that sends a response message to the telephone control device when responding to the call message from the device, and receives and outputs voice from unicast in response to the voice request message from the telephone control device, and inputs the unicast A unicast transmission / reception processing unit for transmitting audio.

In addition, the control unit of the video distribution terminal notifies the telephone control device of the first unicast address information for identifying the first unicast for audio transmission from the video distribution terminal by a call message. The control unit of the terminal notifies the telephone control device of the second unicast address information for specifying the second unicast for voice transmission from the terminal by the response message, and the media control unit of the telephone control device Notifies the responding terminal of the first unicast address information specifying the first unicast notified by the call message by the voice request message, and specifies the second unicast notified by the response message. The second unicast address information is notified to the video distribution terminal, and the unicast transmission / reception processing unit of the video distribution terminal transmits the first unicast address information. Unicast transmission / reception processing of the terminal by transmitting voice by the first unicast based on the second address information and receiving voice by the second unicast based on the second unicast address information notified by the voice request message The unit transmits the voice by the second unicast based on the second unicast address information, and receives the voice by the first unicast based on the first unicast address information notified by the voice request message. It is what I did .

  The telephone control method according to the present invention includes a plurality of terminals having a video display function and a voice call function, a telephone control device connected to these terminals via a communication line, and a video distribution terminal for distributing video. A telephone control method used in a telephone system for controlling a call related to a terminal and a video distribution terminal by performing call control of the terminal and the video distribution terminal by a telephone control device, wherein the video distribution terminal performs telephone control when calling the terminal A step of transmitting a call message to the device; a step of transmitting a video distribution request message to the video distribution terminal in response to the call message from the video distribution terminal; and a step of transmitting the video distribution terminal from the telephone control device. In response to the video distribution request message, the step of distributing video by multicast, and the telephone control device is a video distribution terminal In response to the call message, a step in which the terminal sends a call message, a step in which the terminal receives and displays video from the multicast in response to a call message from the telephone control device, and the terminal performs telephone control. A step of transmitting a response message to the telephone control device when responding to the call message from the device; and a step of the telephone control device transmitting a call stop message to another terminal other than the response terminal in response to the response message from the terminal The terminal stops receiving video from the multicast in response to the call stop message from the telephone control device, and the telephone control device distributes the audio request message in response to the response message from the video distribution terminal. Transmitting to the terminal and the response terminal, and the video distribution terminal from the telephone control device A step of transmitting the input voice by unicast in response to the voice communication request message, receiving and outputting the voice from the unicast, and the terminal from the unicast in response to the voice request message from the telephone control device. Receiving and outputting the sound, and transmitting the input sound by the unicast.

In addition to this, the video distribution terminal notifies the telephone control device of the first unicast address information for identifying the first unicast for audio transmission from the video distribution terminal by the call message. The second unicast address information for specifying the second unicast for voice transmission from the terminal is notified to the telephone control device by the response message, and the telephone control device notifies the call message by the voice request message. The first unicast address information specifying the notified first unicast is notified to the response terminal, and the second unicast address information specifying the second unicast notified by the response message is distributed as video. Notification is made to the terminal, and the video distribution terminal transmits audio by the first unicast based on the first unicast address information. Both receive voice by the second unicast based on the second unicast address information notified by the voice request message, and the terminal transmits the voice by the second unicast based on the second unicast address information. while, in which so as to receive audio in the first unicast based on the first unicast address information notified by voice request message.

  According to the present invention, video can be directly distributed from the video distribution terminal to each terminal by multicast. For this reason, the network load from the video distribution terminal to the terminal can be reduced as compared with the case where video is distributed from the video distribution terminal to each terminal by individual unicast. In addition, it is no longer necessary to convert the protocol from unicast to multicast in the telephone controller, reducing the processing burden on the telephone controller and reducing the configuration of the telephone controller itself, thereby reducing the overall cost of the telephone system. It becomes possible to do.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[First Embodiment]
First, a telephone system according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the telephone system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
The telephone system 1 is composed of a communication system that implements a call using a communication technology such as VoIP as a whole, and includes a telephone control device 20, a plurality of terminals 30, and a TV door phone (video distribution terminal) 10 such as a LAN or WAN. The communication lines 50 are interconnected so that data communication is possible.

[TV door phone]
Next, with reference to FIG. 2, the television door phone of the telephone system according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the TV door phone of the telephone system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

The TV door phone 10 is composed of a door phone device that acquires and transmits video and audio as a whole, and main operation units include an operation input unit 11, a camera 12, a microphone 13, a speaker 14, a control unit 15, a video encoder 16, An audio encoder 17, an audio decoder 18, and a protocol processing unit 19 are provided.

The operation input unit 11 includes general operation buttons, and has a function of detecting various operations such as a call operation of a visitor and outputting the detected operations to the control unit 15.
The camera 12 has a function of shooting a visitor's video and outputting it to the video encoder 16.
The microphone 13 has a function of detecting a visitor's voice and outputting it to the voice encoder 17.
The speaker 14 has a function of outputting sound output from the sound decoder 18 such as sound from the terminal 30.

The control unit 15 includes a control circuit such as a CPU, and has a function of transmitting a call message to the telephone control device 20 via the protocol processing unit 19 in response to a call operation by the operation input unit 11.
The video encoder 16 includes a dedicated signal processing circuit, and has a function of encoding video captured by the camera 12 and outputting the encoded video to the protocol processing unit 19.
The audio encoder 17 is composed of a dedicated signal processing circuit, and has a function of encoding the audio detected by the microphone 13 and outputting the encoded audio to the protocol processing unit 19.
The audio decoder 18 includes a dedicated signal processing circuit and has a function of decoding the audio received by the protocol processing unit 19 and outputting the decoded audio to the speaker 14.
Note that the video encoder 16, the audio encoder 17, and the audio decoder 18 may be realized by a software function unit realized by the control unit 15.

The protocol processing unit 19 includes a control circuit such as a CPU, and exchanges various messages, video data, and audio data between the telephone control device 20 and the terminal 30 via the communication line 50 using a predetermined protocol. It has a function to do.
The protocol processing unit 19 includes a multicast transmission processing unit 19A and a unicast transmission / reception processing unit 19B as main processing units.

  The multicast transmission processing unit 19A has a function of starting video distribution from the video encoder 16 by multicast based on multicast address information specified by the video distribution request message in response to the video distribution request message from the telephone control device 20. And a function of stopping the video distribution by multicast based on the multicast address information designated by the disconnect message in response to the disconnect message from the telephone control device 20.

  In response to the voice request message from the telephone control device 20, the unicast transmission / reception processing unit 19B starts transmission of voice from the voice encoder 17 by unicast based on the unicast address information specified in the voice request message. At the same time, in response to a function for starting reception of voice from the unicast and a disconnect message from the telephone control device 20, unicast voice transmission / reception based on the unicast address information specified by the disconnect message is stopped. It has a function. For this unicast, bi-directional unicast may be used, or separate unicast may be used for transmission and reception.

[Telephone control device]
Next, the telephone control device of the telephone system according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the telephone control device of the telephone system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

  The telephone control device 20 is composed of an information processing device such as a server device or a personal computer as a whole. By accessing an external telephone network, a telephone call by the terminal 30 using the telephone network, an extension telephone call between the terminals 30, In addition, it has a function of controlling a door phone call between the terminal 30 and the TV door phone 10.

The telephone control device 20 is provided with a call control unit 21 and a protocol processing unit 29 as main functional units.
The call control unit 21 includes a control circuit such as a CPU, and is provided with a call processing unit 21A and a media control unit 21B as main processing units.

  The call processing unit 21A has a function of performing general call control related to the terminal 30. Specifically, the call processing unit 21A receives a call message from the TV door phone 10 received by the protocol processing unit 29 from the TV door phone 10. Multicast from the TV door phone 10 according to the function of transmitting the call message including the multicast address information used in the multicast of each from the protocol processing unit 29 to each terminal 30 and the response message from the terminal 30 received by the protocol processing unit 29 In response to the function of transmitting the call stop message including the multicast address information used in the protocol processing unit 29 to another terminal 30 other than the response terminal 30 and the disconnection message from the terminal 30 received by the protocol processing unit 29, The multi-key used for communication of the terminal 30 The disconnect message includes a list address information and unicast address information, and a function to be transmitted to the TV door 10 from the protocol processing unit 29.

  The media control unit 21B has a function of performing call control related to video and audio related to the terminal 30, and specifically, a multicast address used in multicast from the TV door phone 10 in response to a call message from the TV door phone 10. A function for transmitting a video distribution request message including information from the protocol processing unit 29 to the TV door phone 10 and an audio request including unicast address information used in unicast from the TV door phone 10 in response to a response message from the terminal 30 It has a function of transmitting a message from the protocol processing unit 29 to the TV door phone 10 and the response terminal 30.

  The protocol processing unit 29 includes a control circuit such as a CPU, and exchanges various messages, video data, and audio data with the TV door phone 10 and the terminal 30 via the communication line 50 using a predetermined protocol. It has a function.

[Terminal]
Next, a terminal of the telephone system according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the terminal of the telephone system according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

  The terminal 30 is composed of an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer as a whole, and main operation units include an operation input unit 31, a screen display unit 32, a speaker 33, a microphone 34, a control unit 35, a video decoder 36, and an audio decoder 37. A voice encoder 38 and a protocol processing unit 39 are provided.

The operation input unit 31 includes general operation buttons, and has a function of detecting and outputting various operations such as calling, answering, and ending the user.
The screen display unit 32 includes a screen display device such as an LCD, and has a function of displaying various videos and images output from the video decoder 36 such as videos from the TV door phone 10 on the screen.
The speaker 33 has a function of outputting various sounds and ringing sounds output from the sound decoder 37 such as sound from the TV door phone 10.
The microphone 34 has a function of detecting the user's voice and outputting it to the voice encoder 38.

  The control unit 35 includes a control circuit such as a CPU, and has a function of transmitting a response message to the telephone control device 20 via the protocol processing unit 39 in response to a response operation at the operation input unit 31. It has a function of transmitting a disconnect message to the telephone control device 20 via the protocol processing unit 39 in response to the call termination operation.

The video decoder 36 includes a dedicated signal processing circuit, and has a function of decoding the video received by the protocol processing unit 39 and outputting the decoded video to the screen display unit 32.
The audio decoder 37 includes a dedicated signal processing circuit, and has a function of decoding the audio received by the protocol processing unit 39 and outputting the decoded audio to the speaker 33.
The audio encoder 38 includes a dedicated signal processing circuit, and has a function of encoding audio detected by the microphone 34 and outputting the encoded audio to the protocol processing unit 39.

The protocol processing unit 39 includes a control circuit such as a CPU, and sends various messages, video data, and audio data between the TV door phone 10 and the telephone control device 20 via the communication line 50 using a predetermined protocol. Has a function to communicate.
The protocol processing unit 39 is provided with a multicast reception processing unit 39A and a unicast transmission / reception processing unit 39B as main processing units.

  In response to the call message from the telephone control device 20, the multicast reception processing unit 39A starts receiving video from the multicast corresponding to the multicast address information specified by the call message and outputs the video to the video decoder 36. In response to a call stop message from the telephone control device 20, a function for stopping video reception from the multicast corresponding to the multicast address information specified by the call stop message, and a call termination operation at the operation input unit 31. Accordingly, it has a function of stopping the video reception from the multicast during communication.

  In response to the voice request message from the telephone control device 20, the unicast transmission / reception processing unit 39B starts to receive voice from unicast based on the unicast address information specified in the voice request message. It has a function for starting transmission of voice from the encoder 38 and a function for stopping voice transmission / reception by unicast during communication in response to a call termination operation at the operation input unit 31. For this unicast, bi-directional unicast may be used, or separate unicast may be used for transmission and reception.

[Operation of First Embodiment]
Next, the operation of the telephone system according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described. Here, each operation | movement of the television door phone 10, the telephone control apparatus 20, and the terminal 30 is demonstrated separately, and the operation | movement of the whole telephone system is demonstrated after that.

[Operation of TV door phone]
First, with reference to FIG. 5, operation | movement of the television door phone of the telephone system concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention is demonstrated. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the calling process of the TV door phone of the telephone system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
When the operation input unit 11 detects a call operation of a visitor in an idle state that is not being used, the TV door phone 10 starts the call process of FIG.

First, the control unit 15 transmits a call message to the telephone control device 20 via the protocol processing unit 19 in response to a call operation at the operation input unit 11 (step 100).
Thereafter, when the protocol processing unit 19 enters a standby state (step 101) and receives a video distribution request message from the telephone control device 20 (step 102: YES), the multicast transmission processing unit 19A transmits the video distribution request message. Distribution of video from the video encoder 16 captured by the camera 12 is started by multicast based on the specified multicast address information (step 103), and the process returns to step 101. As a result, the television door phone 10 enters a calling state (waiting for a response).

  On the other hand, when the voice request message from the telephone control device 20 is received in the standby state in step 101 (step 104: YES), the unicast transmission / reception processing unit 19B sets the unicast address information specified in the voice request message. In the unicast based, the transmission of the voice from the voice encoder 17 detected by the microphone 13 is started, the voice is received from the unicast based on the unicast address information, and the output to the voice decoder 18 is started (step 105), it returns to step 101. Thereby, the TV door phone 10 is in a call state with the response terminal 30.

  On the other hand, when a disconnect message from the telephone control device 20 is received in the standby state of step 101 (step 106: YES), the multicast transmission processing unit 19A uses the multicast based on the multicast address information specified by the disconnect message. Video distribution is stopped (step 107). Similarly, the unicast transmission / reception processor 19B stops the unicast voice transmission based on the unicast address information specified in the voice request message, and stops the voice reception from the unicast (step 108). A series of call processing is terminated. As a result, the television door phone 10 enters an idle state.

[Operation of telephone control device]
Next, the operation of the telephone control device of the telephone system according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing door phone control processing of the telephone control device of the telephone system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
When the protocol processing unit 29 receives a call message from the TV door phone 10, the telephone control device 20 starts the door phone control process of FIG.

  First, the call control unit 21 uses the call processing unit 21A to transmit a call message including multicast address information used for multicast from the TV door phone 10 from the protocol processing unit 29 to each terminal 30 (step 200), and media control. The unit 21B transmits a video distribution request message including the multicast address information from the protocol processing unit 29 to the television door phone 10 (step 201).

As for the multicast address information, a plurality of multicast address information may be set in advance in a storage unit (not shown), and the unused multicast address information may be selected.
Also, for unicast address information described later, a plurality of unicast address information may be set in advance in a storage unit (not shown), and unused unicast address information may be selected.

Thereafter, the protocol processing unit 29 enters a standby state (step 202), and when a response message is received from the terminal 30 (step 203: YES), the call processing unit 21A uses the multicast address information used for multicast from the TV door phone 10. Is transmitted from the protocol processing unit 29 to other terminals 30 other than the responding terminal 30 (step 204).
Subsequently, the media control unit 21B transmits a voice request message including unicast address information used for unicast from the TV door phone 10 from the protocol processing unit 29 to the TV door phone 10 (step 205), and also to the response terminal 30. Transmit (step 206), and return to step 202.

  On the other hand, when a disconnect message is received from the telephone control device 20 in the message reception standby state (step 207: YES), the call processor 21A uses the multicast used by the response terminal 30 that is the transmission source of the disconnect message. A disconnect message including address information and unicast address information is transmitted from the protocol processing unit 29 to the television door phone 10 (step 208), and a series of door phone control processing is terminated.

[Terminal operation]
Next, the operation of the terminal of the telephone system according to the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the incoming call control processing of the terminal of the telephone system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
When the protocol processor 39 receives a call message from the telephone control device 20 in an idle state that is not being used, the terminal 30 starts the incoming call control process of FIG.

  First, the protocol processing unit 39 starts receiving video from the multicast corresponding to the multicast address information specified by the call message by the multicast reception processing unit 39A, and outputs the video to the video decoder 36 (step 300). As a result, the terminal 30 enters the door phone incoming state, and the video display of the visitor is started on the image display unit 32.

  Thereafter, when the protocol processing unit 39 enters a standby state (step 301) and receives a call stop message from the telephone control device 20 (step 302: YES), the protocol reception unit 39A designates the call stop message. The video reception from the multicast corresponding to the multicast address information is stopped (step 303), and the series of incoming call control processing ends. As a result, the terminal 30 enters an idle state.

  On the other hand, when a response operation at the operation input unit 31 is detected in the standby state of step 301 (step 304: YES), the control unit 35 transmits a response message to the telephone control device 20 via the protocol processing unit 39. (Step 305).

  Thereafter, when the protocol processing unit 39 enters a standby state (step 306) and receives a voice request message from the telephone control device 20 (step 307: YES), the protocol processing unit 39 designates the voice request message with the unicast transmission / reception processing unit 39B. The voice reception from the unicast based on the unicast address information is started, and the voice transmission from the voice encoder 38 is started by the unicast (step 308), and the process returns to step 306. As a result, the terminal 30 enters a call state with the TV door phone 10.

  On the other hand, when a response operation at the operation input unit 31 is detected in the standby state of step 306 (step 309: YES), the control unit 35 transmits a disconnect message to the telephone control device 20 via the protocol processing unit 39. (Step 310). Similarly, the protocol processing unit 39 uses the multicast reception processing unit 39A to stop the video reception from the communicating multicast, and the unicast transmission / reception processing unit 39B stops the audio transmission / reception by the unicast during communication (step 311). ), A series of incoming call control processing ends. As a result, the terminal 30 enters an idle state.

[Operation of the entire telephone system]
Next, the overall operation of the telephone system according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 8 is a sequence diagram showing the overall operation of the telephone system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.
Here, an example in which a call is made between the response terminal 30A and the TV door phone 10 in response to a response operation on the terminal 30A after calling the terminals 30A and 30B in response to the call operation on the TV door phone 10 will be described. Will be described.

In the TV door phone 10, when a call operation is performed by a visitor (step 400), a call message is transmitted from the TV door phone 10 to the telephone control device 20 (step 401).
The telephone control device 20 transmits a video distribution request to the TV door phone 10 in response to the call message from the TV door phone 10 (step 402), and transmits a call message to the terminals 30A and 30B (step 403).

At this time, the video distribution request message and the call message include multicast address information used for multicast from the TV door phone 10.
In response to the video delivery request message from the telephone control device 20, the TV door phone 10 starts delivery of video shot of the visitor by multicast based on the multicast address information (step 404).
On the other hand, in response to the call message from the telephone control device 20, the terminals 30A and 30B receive video from the multicast corresponding to the multicast address information and display the screen. Thereby, a visitor's image | video is displayed in terminal 30A, 30B, and it will be in the door phone incoming state from the television door phone 10. FIG.

Thereafter, when a response operation to the incoming doorphone is performed in the terminal 30A (step 410), a response message is transmitted from the response terminal 30A to the telephone control device 20 (step 411).
In response to the response message, the telephone control device 20 transmits a call stop message to a terminal other than the response terminal 30A, here, the terminal 30B (step 412).

At this time, the call stop message includes multicast address information used in multicast from the TV door phone 10.
In response to this call stop message, terminal 30B stops receiving video from multicast based on the multicast address information (step 413). Thereby, the video display on the terminal 30B is stopped, the doorphone incoming state is shifted to the idle state, and the video of the visitor is displayed only on the terminal 30A.

In addition, the telephone control device 20 transmits a voice communication request message to the TV door phone 10 in response to a response message from the response terminal 30A (step 414), and transmits a voice communication request message to the response terminal 30A. (Step 415).
At this time, the voice communication request message includes unicast address information used in unicast between the TV door phone 10 and the response terminal 30A.
The TV door phone 10 and the response terminal 30A start audio transmission / reception based on the unicast address information (step 416). As a result, the response terminal 30 </ b> A enters a door phone call state with the TV door phone 10 while displaying the video of the visitor.

Thereafter, when the call termination operation is performed in the response terminal 30A (step 420), the response terminal 30A stops the video reception from the multicast that is communicating with the TV door phone 10, and also performs the unicast audio transmission / reception. It stops and transmits a disconnect message to the telephone control device 20 (step 421).
The telephone control device 20 transmits a disconnect message to the TV door phone 10 in response to the disconnect message from the response terminal 30A (step 422).
At this time, these disconnect messages include multicast address information used for multicast and unicast address information used for unicast. When multicast or unicast to be disconnected can be specified, it is not necessary to notify the multicast address information and unicast address information with a disconnect message.

In response to the disconnect message, the TV door phone 10 stops video distribution by multicast based on the multicast address information specified by the disconnect message, and performs unicast based on the unicast address information specified by the disconnect message. Stop audio transmission / reception.
Thereby, the door phone call between the TV door phone 10 and the response terminal 30A is completed.

[Effect of the first embodiment]
As described above, in the present embodiment, the video of the visitor can be directly distributed from the TV door phone 10 to each terminal 30 by multicast. For this reason, the network load from the television door phone 10 to the terminal 30 can be reduced as compared with the case where video is distributed from the television door phone 10 to each terminal 30 by individual unicast. In addition, it is not necessary for the telephone control device 20 to perform protocol conversion from unicast to multicast, the processing load on the telephone control device 20 can be reduced, the configuration of the telephone control device 20 itself can be reduced, and the entire telephone system can be reduced. Costs can be reduced.

  Also, the video at the time of calling is distributed from the TV door phone 10 to each terminal 30 by multicast, and a call stop message is sent from the telephone control device 20 to other terminals other than the answering terminal in response to a response at an arbitrary terminal. Since the terminal stops receiving video from the multicast in response to the call stop message, the multicast can be shared both when the terminal is called and when the intercom call is made after the response. For this reason, it is not necessary to perform call control for stopping the multicast that has been used up to the time of response and distributing video from the TV door phone 10 to the terminal 30 by new unicast. Thereby, it is possible to reduce the call control processing burden at the time of response in the television door phone 10 and the response terminal.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the multicast address information is notified to the TV door phone 10 by the video distribution request message from the telephone control device 20, and the TV door phone 10 is based on the multicast address information notified by the video distribution request message. The video is distributed by multicast, and the telephone control device 20 notifies the multicast address information to the terminal 30 by this message. The terminal 30 receives the video from the multicast corresponding to the multicast address information notified by the call message. Therefore, it is not necessary to exchange a separate message for notifying the multicast address information, and the call control processing load of the entire telephone system can be reduced.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the unicast address information is notified to the video distribution terminal and the response terminal by a voice request message from the telephone control device 20, and this voice communication request message is transmitted between the TV door phone 10 and the terminal 30. Since voice is transmitted and received by unicast based on the unicast address information notified in, there is no need to exchange a separate message for notifying the unicast address information, reducing the call control processing burden on the entire telephone system. it can.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a telephone system according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram showing the overall operation of the telephone system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.
In the first embodiment, the case where the telephone control device 20 manages multicast address information and unicast address information has been described as an example. In the present embodiment, a case will be described as an example in which multicast address information and unicast address information are managed by the TV door phone 10 and unicast address information is managed by the terminal 30.

As for the multicast address information, one or more pieces of multicast address information may be set in advance in a storage unit (not shown) of the TV door phone 10, and multicast address information that is not in use may be selected.
As for the unicast address information, one or more pieces of unicast address information are set in advance in a storage unit (not shown) of the terminal 30, and unicast address information that is not used is selected. .
The configuration of the TV door phone 10, the telephone control device 20, and the terminal 30 is the same as that of the first embodiment, except for the handling of multicast address information and unicast address information. The detailed description in is omitted.

[Operation of the entire telephone system]
Next, the overall operation of the telephone system according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
Here, an example in which a call is made between the response terminal 30A and the TV door phone 10 in response to a response operation on the terminal 30A after calling the terminals 30A and 30B in response to the call operation on the TV door phone 10 will be described. Will be described.

  In the TV door phone 10, when a call operation is performed by a visitor (step 500), the control unit 15 of the TV door phone 10 sends multicast address information and unicast address information (first unicast address) to the telephone control device 20. Information) is transmitted (step 501). This unicast address information specifies unicast (first unicast) for audio transmission from the TV door phone 10.

  The telephone control device 20 transmits a video distribution request to the TV door phone 10 in response to a call message from the TV door phone 10 by the media control unit 21B (step 502), and the call processing unit 21A causes the terminals 30A, 30A, A call message including the multicast address information notified from the TV door phone 10 is transmitted to 30B (step 503).

The TV door phone 10 distributes a video of a visitor photographed by multicast based on the multicast address information notified by the call message in step 501 in response to the video distribution request message from the telephone control device 20 by the multicast transmission processing unit 19A. Is started (step 504).
On the other hand, in response to the call message from the telephone control device 20, the terminals 30A and 30B receive video from the multicast corresponding to the multicast address information and display the screen. Thereby, a visitor's image | video is displayed in terminal 30A, 30B, and it will be in the door phone incoming state from the television door phone 10. FIG.

  Thereafter, when the terminal 30A performs a response operation to the incoming doorphone (step 510), the response terminal 30A causes the control unit 35 to transmit the unicast address information (second unicast address) to the telephone control device 20. A response message including (information) is transmitted (step 511). This unicast address information specifies unicast (second unicast) for voice transmission from the response terminal 30A.

  In response to the response message, the telephone control device 20 transmits a call stop message to a terminal other than the response terminal 30A, here, the terminal 30B (step 512). At this time, the call stop message includes multicast address information used in multicast from the TV door phone 10.

  In response to this call stop message, terminal 30B stops receiving video from multicast based on the multicast address information (step 513). Thereby, the video display on the terminal 30B is stopped, the doorphone incoming state is shifted to the idle state, and the video of the visitor is displayed only on the terminal 30A.

Further, the telephone control device 20 transmits a voice communication request message to the TV door phone 10 according to the response message from the response terminal 30A by the media control unit 21B (step 514), and also to the response terminal 30A. A voice communication request message is transmitted (step 515).
At this time, the voice communication request message addressed to the TV door phone 10 includes the unicast address information notified from the response terminal 30A, and the voice communication request message addressed to the response terminal 30A is notified from the TV door phone 10. Unicast address information is included.

The TV door phone 10 and the response terminal 30A start transmission / reception of sound based on the unicast address information (step 516). As a result, the response terminal 30 </ b> A enters a door phone call state with the TV door phone 10 while displaying the video of the visitor.
At this time, the TV door phone 10 responds by a unicast (first unicast) based on the unicast address information (first unicast information) notified by the call message in step 501 by the unicast transmission / reception processing unit 19B. The voice from the response terminal 30A is transmitted by unicast (second unicast) based on the unicast address information (second unicast information) notified by the voice communication request message in step 514. Receive.

  In addition, the response terminal 30A uses the unicast transmission / reception processing unit 39B to transmit the TV doorphone 10 by unicast (second unicast) based on the unicast address information (second unicast information) notified by the response message in step 411. And the audio from the TV door phone 10 is received by unicast (first unicast) based on the unicast address information (first unicast information) notified by the voice communication request message in step 515. To do.

Thereafter, when the call termination operation is performed in the response terminal 30A (step 520), the response terminal 30A stops video reception from the multicast in communication with the TV door phone 10, and also performs audio transmission / reception by unicast. It stops and transmits a disconnect message to the telephone control device 20 (step 521).
The telephone control device 20 transmits a disconnect message to the TV door phone 10 in response to the disconnect message from the response terminal 30A (step 522).
At this time, these disconnect messages include multicast address information used for multicast and unicast address information used for unicast. When multicast or unicast to be disconnected can be specified, it is not necessary to notify the multicast address information and unicast address information with a disconnect message.

In response to the disconnect message, the TV door phone 10 stops video distribution by multicast based on the multicast address information specified by the disconnect message, and performs unicast based on the unicast address information specified by the disconnect message. Stop audio transmission / reception.
Thereby, the door phone call between the TV door phone 10 and the response terminal 30A is completed.

[Effect of the second embodiment]
As described above, in the present embodiment, the multicast address information and unicast address information managed by the TV door phone 10 are notified to the terminal 30 via the telephone control device 20, and the unicast address information managed by the terminal 30 is transmitted to the TV door phone. Therefore, it is not necessary to manage the multicast address information and the unicast address information by the telephone control device 20. For this reason, even the television doorphone 10 and the terminal 30 having individual multicast address information and unicast address information in advance can be easily handled without performing registration processing in the telephone control device 20.

[Extended embodiment]
In the above, the case where the telephone control device 20 is realized by an information processing device such as a server device or a personal computer and the terminal 30 is realized by an information processing device such as a personal computer has been described as an example. It is not limited to. For example, the telephone control device 20 may be realized by a main unit of an exchange or a key telephone system, and the terminal 30 may be realized by an extension telephone connected to the exchange or an extension telephone connected to the button telephone system.

In the above description, the TV door phone 10 has been described as a specific example of the video distribution terminal. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the video captured by the camera or the video acquired from the external device and accumulated. Any terminal may be used as long as the terminal has a function of distributing the message.
In the above description, the case where the telephone control device 20 has a function of performing call control with an external telephone network has been described as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to this. Even when only having a function of performing call control between terminals connected to the telephone system, the present invention can be applied in the same manner and the same effects can be obtained.
In the above description, the IP telephone technology and the VoIP communication technology have been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other communication technologies may be used.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the telephone system concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the television door phone of the telephone system concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the telephone control apparatus of the telephone system concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the terminal of the telephone system concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the calling process of the television door phone of the telephone system concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the doorphone control process of the telephone control apparatus of the telephone system concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the incoming call control processing of the terminal of the telephone system concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the whole operation | movement of the telephone system concerning the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the whole operation | movement of the telephone system concerning the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Telephone system, 10 ... Television door phone (video delivery terminal), 11 ... Operation input part, 12 ... Camera, 13 ... Microphone, 14 ... Speaker, 15 ... Control part, 16 ... Video encoder, 17 ... Audio encoder, 18 ... Audio decoder, 19 ... protocol processing unit, 19A ... multicast transmission processing unit, 19B ... unicast transmission / reception processing unit, 20 ... telephone control unit, 21 ... call control unit, 21A ... call processing unit, 21B ... media control unit, 29 ... Protocol processing unit, 30 ... terminal, 31 ... operation input unit, 32 ... screen display unit, 33 ... speaker, 34 ... microphone, 35 ... control unit, 36 ... video decoder, 37 ... audio decoder, 38 ... audio encoder, 39 ... Protocol processing unit, 39A ... multicast reception processing unit, 39B ... unicast transmission / reception processing unit, 50 ... communication line.

Claims (2)

A plurality of terminals having a video display function and a voice call function; a telephone control device connected to these terminals via a communication line; and a video distribution terminal for distributing video; the terminal and the video by the telephone control device A telephone system for controlling a call related to the terminal and the video distribution terminal by performing call control of the distribution terminal,
The video distribution terminal is
A control unit for transmitting a call message to the telephone control device when calling the terminal;
In response to a video distribution request message from the telephone control device, a multicast transmission processing unit that distributes video by multicast,
In response to the voice communication request message from the telephone control device, the input voice is transmitted by unicast, and the unicast transmission / reception processing unit that receives and outputs the voice from the unicast, and
The telephone control device
A call processing unit that transmits a call message to the terminal in response to a call message from the video distribution terminal and transmits a call stop message to another terminal other than the response terminal in response to a response message from the terminal When,
The video delivery request message is transmitted to the video delivery terminal in response to a call message from the video delivery terminal, and an audio request message is transmitted to the video delivery terminal and the response terminal in response to a response message from the terminal. Including a media control unit,
The terminal
Multicast reception processing for receiving and displaying video from the multicast in response to a call message from the telephone control device, and stopping video reception from the multicast in response to a call stop message from the telephone control device And
A control unit that transmits a response message to the telephone control device when responding to a call message from the telephone control device;
Depending on the voice request message from the telephone controller, and outputs to receive audio from the unicast saw including a unicast transmission and reception processing unit for transmitting the input speech in the unicast,
The control unit of the video distribution terminal notifies the telephone control device of first unicast address information that identifies the first unicast for audio transmission from the video distribution terminal by the call message,
The control unit of the terminal notifies the telephone control device of second unicast address information for specifying second unicast for voice transmission from the terminal by the response message,
The media control unit of the telephone control device notifies the response terminal of first unicast address information specifying the first unicast notified by the call message by the voice request message, and the response Notifying the video delivery terminal of second unicast address information that identifies the second unicast notified by the message;
The unicast transmission / reception processing unit of the video distribution terminal transmits the audio by the first unicast based on the first unicast address information, and the second unicast address notified by the audio request message. Receiving said voice in a second unicast based on information;
The unicast transmission / reception processing unit of the terminal transmits the voice by second unicast based on the second unicast address information, and adds the first unicast address information notified by the voice request message. A telephone system , wherein the voice is received by a first unicast based thereon. A plurality of terminals having a video display function and a voice call function; a telephone control device connected to these terminals via a communication line; and a video distribution terminal for distributing video; the terminal and the video by the telephone control device A telephone control method used in a telephone system for controlling a call related to the terminal and the video distribution terminal by performing call control of the distribution terminal,
The video delivery terminal transmitting a call message to the telephone control device when calling the terminal;
The telephone control device transmitting the video delivery request message to the video delivery terminal in response to a call message from the video delivery terminal;
The video delivery terminal, in response to a video delivery request message from the telephone control device, delivering a video by multicast;
The telephone control device transmitting a call message to the terminal in response to a call message from the video distribution terminal;
The terminal receiving and displaying video from the multicast in response to a call message from the telephone control device; and
The terminal transmitting a response message to the telephone control device when responding to a call message from the telephone control device;
The telephone control device, in response to a response message from the terminal, transmitting a call stop message to a terminal other than the response terminal;
The terminal stops receiving video from the multicast in response to a call stop message from the telephone control device;
The telephone control device, in response to a response message from the video distribution terminal, transmitting an audio request message to the video distribution terminal and the response terminal;
In response to the voice communication request message from the telephone control device, the video distribution terminal transmits input voice by unicast, and receives and outputs voice from the unicast;
In response to a voice request message from the telephone control device, the terminal receives and outputs voice from the unicast, and transmits input voice by the unicast .
The video distribution terminal notifies the telephone control device of first unicast address information for identifying first unicast for audio transmission from the video distribution terminal by the call message,
The terminal notifies the telephone control device of second unicast address information for specifying second unicast for voice transmission from the terminal by the response message,
The telephone control device notifies the response terminal of the first unicast address information specifying the first unicast notified by the call message by the voice request message, and is notified by the response message. The second unicast address information specifying the second unicast is notified to the video distribution terminal,
The video delivery terminal transmits the audio by the first unicast based on the first unicast address information, and the second based on the second unicast address information notified by the audio request message. Receive the audio by unicast,
The terminal transmits the voice by the second unicast based on the second unicast address information, and the first unicast based on the first unicast address information notified by the voice request message. The telephone control method characterized by receiving the said voice by .

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