JP6984457B2 - Communication system, communication device, communication control program, relay device, relay program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a communication system, a communication device, a communication control program, a relay device, and a relay program, and can be applied to, for example, a system for improving the quality of call voice in a wireless terminal tethered and connected to a mobile phone terminal.

Communication of a general wireless terminal (radio device) is a half-double communication (Push to Talk, hereinafter referred to as "PTT communication") in which voice is transmitted by pressing a transmission button provided on the wireless terminal via a wireless base station. ).

In recent years, there is also a system that uses a mobile phone terminal (for example, a smartphone) to perform PTT communication between mobile phone terminals via a distribution device using the 3G / LTE network of the mobile phone.

Furthermore, when the wireless terminal is located in the radio wave insensitive zone, the wireless terminal and the mobile phone terminal are connected by tethering by Bluetooth (registered trademark), and PTT communication is performed via the distribution device using the 3G / LTE network of the mobile phone. There is also a system that does.

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-208885

However, a system in which a wireless terminal is connected to a mobile phone terminal by tethering using Bluetooth and communicates using a 3G / LTE network has the following problems.

The mobile phone terminal connected by tethering becomes a part of the network path of the wireless terminal and transfers the IP packet to the 3G / LTE network or transfers the IP packet received from the 3G / LTE network to the wireless terminal. At this time, the mobile phone terminal does not perform audio signal processing such as a noise removal function and an automatic gain control function (AGC). For example, Patent Document 1 shows an example in which a wireless relay device that relays communication between a wireless terminal and a base station performs mute processing when data is damaged due to deterioration of a communication path. However, processing to improve voice quality (noise removal, automatic gain control, etc.) is not performed.

Even if the mobile phone terminal is equipped with a high-quality voice signal processing function for performing voice communication, this function is not used, and the voice quality is strongly affected by the wireless terminal.

Therefore, in consideration of the case where the wireless terminal does not have a noise removal function or an automatic gain control function (AGC), it is possible to perform audio signal processing such as a noise removal function or automatic gain control (AGC) on the mobile phone terminal. Conceivable.

However, multi-stage operation in which voice signal processing is performed on both a mobile phone terminal and a wireless terminal is not desirable because it involves voice deterioration.

Therefore, there is a demand for a communication system, a communication device, a communication control program, a relay device, and a relay program that can improve voice quality by using the signal processing function provided in the relay device as needed.

The first aspect of the present invention is a communication system including a communication device and a relay device for relaying data communication between the communication device and the communication network, wherein the communication device is (1-1) a predetermined device included in the communication device. and signal processing information management unit for managing the signal processing function implementation information indicating whether or not the signal processing function, (1-2) the audio signal processing has been performed by at least the audio signal or a predetermined signal processing functions of the said communication device The relay device has a transmission data generation unit that generates transmission data including a signal and signal processing function implementation information, and (1-3) a transmission unit that transmits the transmission data to the relay device. (2-1) The receiving unit that receives the transmission data from the communication device, and (2-2) the voice signal included in the transmission data based on the signal processing function implementation information included in the transmission data. On the other hand, according to the signal processing determination unit that determines whether or not it is necessary to execute the predetermined signal processing function provided in the relay device, and (2-3) the result determined by the signal processing determination unit, the audio signal is a signal processing unit for executing a predetermined signal processing function by the relay device comprises, the audio signal on which signal processing has been performed by the audio signal or the signal processing unit included in the (2-4) the transmission data the It is characterized by having a network transmission unit for transmitting data to a communication network.

In the second aspect of the present invention, in a communication device that executes data communication with a communication network via a relay device, (1) signal processing function implementation information indicating the presence or absence of a predetermined signal processing function included in the communication device is provided. and signal processing information management unit for managing the delivery data including the (2) and the audio signal on which signal processing has been performed by at least the audio signal or the communication device a predetermined signal processing functions of the said signal processing function implemented information It is characterized by having a transmission data generation unit to be generated and (3) a transmission unit to transmit the transmission data to the relay device.

The third communication control program of the present invention comprises a computer mounted on a communication device that executes data communication with a communication network via a relay device, and (1) has a predetermined signal processing function included in the communication device. and signal processing information management unit for managing the signal processing function implementation information indicating whether, (2) and the audio signal on which signal processing has been performed by at least the audio signal or the communication device a predetermined signal processing functions of the said signal processing It is characterized by functioning as a transmission data generation unit that generates transmission data including function implementation information, and (3) a transmission unit that transmits the transmission data to the relay device.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is a relay device that relays data communication between a communication device and a communication network, wherein (1) a receiving unit that receives transmission data from the communication device, and (2) the communication included in the transmission data. Whether or not it is necessary to execute the predetermined signal processing function provided in the relay device for the voice signal included in the transmitted data based on the signal processing function implementation information indicating the presence / absence of the predetermined signal processing function provided in the device. A signal processing determination unit for determination, (3) a signal processing unit that executes a predetermined signal processing function provided in the relay device for the voice signal according to the result of determination by the signal processing determination unit, and (4). and having a network transmission unit that transmits the audio signal to the signal processing by the audio signal or the signal processing unit has been performed are included in the transmission data to the communication network.

The fifth relay program of the present invention uses a computer mounted on a relay device for relaying data communication between a communication device and a communication network, (1) a receiving unit for receiving transmission data from the communication device, and (2). Predetermined signal processing included in the relay device for the voice signal included in the transmission data based on the signal processing function implementation information indicating the presence or absence of the predetermined signal processing function included in the transmission data. According to the signal processing determination unit that determines whether or not the function needs to be executed and (3) the result of the determination by the signal processing determination unit, a predetermined signal processing function provided in the relay device is executed for the voice signal. a signal processing unit, characterized in that to function as a network transmission unit that transmits to the (4) the audio signal or the signal processing the audio signal to the communication network which signal processing has been performed by the unit included in the transmission data ..

According to the present invention, the signal processing function provided in the relay device can be used as needed to improve the voice quality.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the wireless terminal which concerns on embodiment. It is an overall configuration diagram which shows the overall configuration of the communication system which concerns on embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the mobile phone terminal which concerns on embodiment.

(A) Main Embodiments In the following, embodiments of a communication system, a communication device, a communication control program, a relay device, and a relay program according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(A-1) Configuration of Embodiment (A-1-1) Overall Configuration FIG. 2 is an overall configuration diagram showing an overall configuration of a communication system according to an embodiment.

In FIG. 2, the communication system 1 has two wireless terminals 10 (10-1, 10-2), a wireless base station 20, a gateway (GW) 30, a distribution device 40, and two mobile phone terminals 50 (50-). 1, 50-2), has a mobile network 60.

In the following, when the processing and the configuration common to the wireless terminals are described, they will be referred to as the wireless terminals 10. Similarly, when explaining the processing and the configuration common to the mobile phone terminal, the description is expressed as the mobile phone terminal 50.

FIG. 2 shows two wireless terminals 10 and two mobile phone terminals 50, but the number of wireless terminals 10 and mobile phone terminals 50 is not limited to this.

The wireless terminal 10 is a terminal used for PTT (push-to-talk) communication. In PTT, a call is possible while the user presses the button, and when the call ends, the user releases the button. The wireless terminal 10 enables one-to-many group simultaneous voice communication. Further, in this embodiment, the wireless terminal 10 can perform voice communication using the mobile network 60 by making a tethering connection (Bluetooth connection) to the mobile phone terminal 50.

The wireless base station 20 executes wireless communication with the wireless terminal 10 and is connected to the GW 30.

The GW 30 performs protocol conversion between the network on the radio base station 20 side and the network on the distribution device 40 side. For example, the GW 30 converts the message data transmitted from the wireless base station 20 side according to a predetermined wireless communication method into an IP packet and transmits it to the distribution device 40.

The distribution device 40 enables one-to-many group simultaneous voice communication by managing the IDs of the terminal devices (wireless terminal 10, mobile phone terminal 50) participating in push-to-talk. Of course, the distribution device 40 can also realize one-to-one voice communication (for example, voice communication between the wireless terminal 10-1 of FIG. 2 and the mobile phone terminal 50-2).

The mobile phone terminal 50 is a tethering-compatible mobile phone terminal, for example, a smartphone.

The mobile network 60 is an access network for mobile communication, and is, for example, a 3G network (third generation mobile phone communication network) or an LTE (Long Term Evolution) network. As the mobile network 60, a 4G network (4th generation mobile phone communication network), a 5G network to be realized in the future (5th generation mobile phone communication network), or the like may be applied.

(A-1-2) Detailed Configuration of Wireless Terminal 10 FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a wireless terminal according to an embodiment.

In FIG. 1, the wireless terminal 10 includes a short-range wireless receiving unit 11, a voice decoding unit 12, a voice output speaker 13, a voice input microphone 14, a voice signal processing unit 15, a voice coding unit 16, and a voice signal processing information setting unit. It has 17, a transmission data generation unit 18, and a short-range wireless transmission unit 19.

The wireless terminal according to the embodiment can be configured by hardware except for a short-range wireless receiving unit, a short-range wireless transmitting unit, an audio output speaker, and an audio input microphone, and is executed by a CPU. Although it can be realized by software (communication control program) and a CPU, it can be functionally represented by FIG. 1 regardless of which implementation method is adopted.

The short-range wireless receiving unit 11 and the short-range wireless transmitting unit 19 are communication devices for realizing short-range wireless communication, and may be configured by, for example, Bluetooth, NFC (Near Field Communication), or the like. In this embodiment, the short-range wireless receiving unit 11 and the short-range wireless transmitting unit 19 make a Bluetooth connection (tethering connection) with the mobile phone terminal 50 to transmit and receive data. In this embodiment, the wireless terminal 10 and the mobile phone terminal 50 will be described as being connected by short-range wireless communication, but if the wireless terminal 10 and the mobile phone terminal 50 can be wirelessly communicated with each other, the above description will be made. It is not limited to such short-range wireless communication. Further, as a modification, the wireless terminal 10 exchanges data between the wireless terminal 10 and the mobile phone terminal 50 by wire (for example, a USB cable) instead of the short-range wireless receiving unit 11 and the short-range wireless transmitting unit 19. May be done.

The voice decoding unit 12 decodes the coded data of the voice signal given from the short-range radio reception unit 11, further converts the obtained digital voice signal into an analog voice signal, and gives it to the voice output speaker 13. be.

The audio output speaker 13 outputs an analog audio signal given by the audio decoding unit 12.

The voice input microphone 14 captures the voice spoken by the user and gives the obtained analog voice signal to the voice signal processing unit 15. The analog audio signal is converted into a digital audio signal by an analog digital converter (not shown) and then given to the audio signal processing unit 15 (or the audio coding unit 16 if the audio signal processing unit 15 is not provided). ..

The audio signal processing unit 15 performs audio signal processing on the audio signal acquired from the audio input microphone 14. For the voice signal processing, for example, a noise removing function for removing ambient noise of a wireless terminal, an automatic gain control function (AGC) for adjusting a speaker voice signal acquired by a voice input microphone 14 to an optimum voice level, and the like can be applied. The function of the audio signal processing unit 15 depends on the implementation of the wireless terminal 10, and may not have the function (all or part of the function).

The voice coding unit 16 encodes the voice signal input from the voice signal processing unit 15 (or the voice input microphone 14) and gives the voice coding data to the transmission data generation unit 18. Here, as the voice coding method, for example, G.I. 711, G.M. 729 etc. may be applied.

In the audio signal processing information setting unit 17, the designer sets in advance the audio signal processing implementation state (whether or not the audio signal processing function is present) such as the noise removal function and the automatic gain control function (AGC) of the wireless terminal 10. For example, when the audio signal processing unit 15 has a noise removing function, the audio signal processing information setting unit 17 has information that the audio signal processing mounting state data D indicating whether or not the audio signal processing function is present has a noise function. To write. The format of the audio signal processing mounting state data D is not limited, and any method may be used as long as the mounting state of the audio signal processing can be determined.

The transmission data generation unit 18 generates transmission data including the audio signal processing implementation state data D input from the audio signal processing information setting unit 17 and the audio coding data input from the audio coding unit 16.

(A-1-3) Detailed Configuration of Mobile Phone Terminal 50 FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a mobile phone terminal according to an embodiment.

In FIG. 3, the mobile phone terminal 50 includes a network receiving unit 51, a network transmitting unit 52, a short-range wireless transmitting unit 53, a short-range wireless receiving unit 54, a voice signal processing switching determination unit 55, a voice decoding unit 56, and a voice signal. It has a processing unit 57 and a voice coding unit 58.

The network receiving unit 51 and the network transmitting unit 52 are connected to the mobile network 60 and transmit / receive voice-coded data to / from the distribution device 40.

The short-range radio transmission unit 53 and the short-range radio reception unit 54 have the same functions as the short-range radio transmission unit 19 and the short-range radio reception unit 11 described above.

The voice signal processing switching determination unit 55 determines whether or not voice signal processing is necessary for the received voice data (voice coded data) based on the voice signal processing mounting state data D received from the wireless terminal 10. .. For example, the voice signal processing switching determination unit 55 does not have the function of the voice signal processing unit 57 provided in the mobile phone terminal 50 on the wireless terminal side from the voice signal processing mounting state data D of the wireless terminal 10. If it is determined, the switch S1 and the switch S2 are switched to the path on the audio signal processing unit side (that is, it is determined that the audio signal processing is necessary). On the other hand, when the audio signal processing switching determination unit 55 determines that the wireless terminal 10 has the function of the audio signal processing unit 57, the switch S1 and the switch S2 are routed so as not to pass through the audio signal processing unit 57. Switch (that is, determine that audio signal processing is unnecessary).

The voice decoding unit 56 decodes the voice-coded data input via the switch S1.

The audio signal processing unit 57 performs audio signal processing according to the determination of the audio signal processing switching determination unit 55. For example, the audio signal processing unit 57 performs noise removal processing when noise removal is required for the audio signal, and performs automatic gain control when automatic gain control (AGC) is required.

The voice coding unit 58 has the same function as the voice coding unit 16 described above, encodes the voice signal input from the voice signal processing unit 57, and gives the voice coding data to the network transmission unit 52. be.

(A-2) Operation of the Embodiment Next, the operation of the communication system 1 of the embodiment having the above configuration will be described with reference to the drawings (FIGS. 1 to 3). In this embodiment, there is a feature in the processing (operation) between the wireless terminal 10 (wireless terminal 10-1 in FIG. 2) and the mobile phone terminal 50 (mobile phone terminal 50-1 in FIG. 2) connected by tethering. Therefore, in the following, the explanation will be focused on this point. Further, it is assumed that the audio signal processing mounting state data D of the audio signal processing information setting unit 17 is set in advance with information indicating the presence or absence of functions such as a noise removal function and an automatic gain control function (AGC) of the wireless terminal 10. do.

First, the voice-coded data distributed from the distribution device 40 is received by the network receiving unit 51 of the mobile phone terminal 50 via the mobile network 60. Then, the received voice-coded data is transmitted to the wireless terminal 10 via the short-range wireless transmission unit 53 of the mobile phone terminal 50, and is received by the short-range wireless reception unit 11 of the wireless terminal 10.

Then, the voice coding data received by the wireless terminal 10 (short-range wireless reception unit 11) is decoded by the voice decoding unit 12 and output from the voice output speaker 13.

Next, when the user of the wireless terminal 10 presses a button for executing PTT communication (not shown) with respect to the content output from the voice output speaker 13 and speaks, the next process is executed.

The audio signal captured by the audio input microphone 14 is converted into a digital signal and then input to the audio signal processing unit 15 for predetermined audio signal processing. As described above, when the wireless terminal 10 does not have the voice signal processing function, the voice signal is given to the voice coding unit 16. Subsequently, the audio signal (the processed audio signal when the audio signal processing is performed by the audio signal processing unit 15) is encoded by the audio coding unit 16 and given to the transmission data generation unit 18. The transmission data generation unit 18 generates transmission data including the audio signal processing implementation state data D given from the audio signal processing information setting unit 17 and the coded audio data, and the generated transmission data is a short-range radio. The transmission unit 19 transmits data to the mobile phone terminal 50 (short-range wireless reception unit 54).

Then, the transmission data received by the mobile phone terminal 50 (short-range wireless reception unit 54) is given to the voice signal processing switching determination unit 55. The voice signal processing switching determination unit 55 of the mobile phone terminal 50 refers to data indicating the voice signal processing mounting state of the wireless terminal 10 (voice signal processing mounting state data D), and the voice provided in the mobile phone terminal 50. When the function of the signal processing unit 57 is not held on the wireless terminal side, the switch S1 and the switch S2 are switched to the path on the voice signal processing unit side. On the other hand, when the audio signal processing switching determination unit 55 determines that the wireless terminal 10 has the function of the audio signal processing unit 57, the audio signal processing switching determination unit 55 switches to a route that does not pass through the audio signal processing unit 57.

The voice-coded data input via the switch S1 is decoded by the voice decoding unit 56, and the voice signal processing unit 57 performs predetermined voice signal processing as necessary, and then the voice coding unit. It is coded again at 58. Then, the re-encoded voice-coded data is transmitted to the distribution device 40 by the network transmission unit 52.

(A-3) Effect of Embodiment According to the present invention, by operating the voice signal processing function not provided in the wireless terminal 10 on the mobile phone terminal 50, the function is improved and the voice quality is improved as compared with the conventional PTT communication system. Improvement is possible.

(B) Other Embodiments Although various modified embodiments have been described in the above-described embodiments, the present invention can also be applied to the following modified embodiments.

(B-1) In the above embodiment, the description is made on the premise that the wireless terminal 10 is a terminal dedicated to half-duplex communication (a terminal capable of PTT communication), but the wireless terminal 10 is capable of full-duplex communication. The present invention can be applied even to a terminal. That is, in the case of the full-duplex communication method, whether or not the wireless terminal 10 has the echo canceller function becomes a problem, but even if the wireless terminal 10 does not have the echo canceller function, the wireless terminal 10 By notifying the mobile phone terminal 50 (voice signal processing switching determination unit 55) of the mounting state of the echo canceller by the voice signal processing mounting state data D, the echo canceller function of the mobile phone terminal 50 can be used.

(B-2) In the above-described embodiment, the communication system 1 has been described by taking a mobile phone terminal and a wireless terminal as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. Other devices (terminals) may be applied as long as they have the same functions as each terminal.

1 ... Communication system, 10 (10-1, 10-2) ... Wireless terminal, 11 ... Short-range wireless receiver, 12 ... Voice decoding unit, 13 ... Voice output speaker, 14 ... Voice input microphone, 15 ... Voice signal Processing unit, 16 ... Voice coding unit, 17 ... Voice signal processing information setting unit, 18 ... Transmission data generation unit, 19 ... Short-range wireless transmission unit, 20 ... Wireless base station, 40 ... Distribution device, 50 (50-1) , 50-2) ... Mobile phone terminal, 51 ... Network receiver, 52 ... Network transmitter, 53 ... Short-range wireless receiver, 54 ... Short-range wireless receiver, 55 ... Voice signal processing switching determination unit, 56 ... Voice Decoding unit, 57 ... Voice signal processing unit, 58 ... Voice coding unit, 60 ... Mobile network, D ... Voice signal processing mounting status data, S1, S2 ... Switch.

Claims (10)

In a communication system including a communication device and a relay device for relaying data communication between the communication device and a communication network.
The communication device is
A signal processing information management unit that manages signal processing function implementation information indicating the presence or absence of a predetermined signal processing function provided in the communication device, and a signal processing information management unit.
A transmission data generation unit that generates transmission data including at least an audio signal or a transmission data including the voice signal processed by a predetermined signal processing function included in the communication device and the signal processing function implementation information.
It has a transmission unit that transmits the transmission data to the relay device, and has a transmission unit.
The relay device is
A receiving unit that receives the transmitted data from the communication device, and
Based on the signal processing function implementation information included in the transmission data, signal processing for determining whether or not it is necessary to execute a predetermined signal processing function included in the relay device for the voice signal included in the transmission data. Judgment department and
A signal processing unit that executes a predetermined signal processing function included in the relay device for the audio signal according to the result determined by the signal processing determination unit.
Communication system, comprising a network transmission unit that transmits the audio signal to the signal processing by the audio signal or the signal processing unit has been performed are included in the transmission data to the communication network. The signal processing determination unit refers to the signal processing function mounting information, and when the predetermined signal processing function included in the relay device is not mounted on the communication device, the signal is referred to the voice signal. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the processing unit executes a signal processing function that is not mounted on the communication device. The communication system according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein the signal processing unit has at least a noise removing function and an automatic gain control function. The connection between the communication device and the relay device is any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein the connection is a tethering connection that enables the communication device to communicate with the communication network via the relay device. The described communication system. The communication system according to claim 4 , wherein the tethering connection between the communication device and the relay device is a connection according to a Bluetooth system. The communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 5 , wherein the communication network is a mobile phone communication network. In a communication device that executes data communication with a communication network via a relay device
A signal processing information management unit that manages signal processing function implementation information indicating the presence or absence of a predetermined signal processing function provided in the communication device, and a signal processing information management unit.
A transmission data generation unit that generates transmission data including at least an audio signal or a transmission data including the voice signal processed by a predetermined signal processing function included in the communication device and the signal processing function implementation information.
A communication device including a transmission unit that transmits the transmission data to the relay device. A computer mounted on a communication device that executes data communication with a communication network via a relay device.
A signal processing information management unit that manages signal processing function implementation information indicating the presence or absence of a predetermined signal processing function provided in the communication device, and a signal processing information management unit.
A transmission data generation unit that generates transmission data including at least an audio signal or a transmission data including the voice signal processed by a predetermined signal processing function included in the communication device and the signal processing function implementation information.
A communication control program characterized in that it functions as a transmission unit that transmits the transmission data to the relay device. In a relay device that relays data communication between a communication device and a communication network
A receiving unit that receives transmission data from the communication device, and
A predetermined signal processing included in the relay device for an audio signal included in the transmission data based on signal processing function implementation information indicating the presence or absence of a predetermined signal processing function included in the transmission data. A signal processing judgment unit that determines whether or not the function needs to be executed,
A signal processing unit that executes a predetermined signal processing function included in the relay device for the audio signal according to the result determined by the signal processing determination unit.
Relay apparatus characterized by having a network transmission unit that transmits the audio signal to the signal processing by the audio signal or the signal processing unit has been performed are included in the transmission data to the communication network. A computer mounted on a relay device that relays data communication between a communication device and a communication network.
A receiving unit that receives transmission data from the communication device, and
A predetermined signal processing included in the relay device for an audio signal included in the transmission data based on signal processing function implementation information indicating the presence or absence of a predetermined signal processing function included in the transmission data. A signal processing judgment unit that determines whether or not the function needs to be executed,
A signal processing unit that executes a predetermined signal processing function included in the relay device for the audio signal according to the result determined by the signal processing determination unit.
Relay program for causing to function as a network transmission unit that transmits the audio signal to the signal processing has been performed by the audio signal or the signal processing unit included in the transmission data to the communication network.

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