JPH01194647A - Electronic conference system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a trouble from occurring due to a sudden electronic conference by interrupting a program executing processing, displaying the same picture on each terminal through a communication channel, establishes the electronic conference among the terminals and restarting the program executing processing with each terminal when the conference is completed. CONSTITUTION:When an operator inputs an opening key to hold the electronic conference at a terminal A, the picture on a display device is saved at the terminal A, the program is interrupted, an address on a memory at such a time is obtained, and it is preserved in an interrupted time information control part 1112. Information concerning a position and a size on the picture of a conference window is read from an electronic conference information control part 1113, and the conference window is opened. When it is completed, the communication control device/processor of another terminal B executes an instruction to save the picture, to interrupt the program and to display the conference window. When a conference completion key is inputted, the program is restarted from the address on the memory at the time of the interruption.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Field of Application in Mado] The present invention is directed to an electronic conference system in which a plurality of remote communication terminal devices are connected through a communication line, and in particular to an electronic conference system in which a plurality of remote communication terminal devices are connected through a communication line, and in particular an electronic conference system in which each terminal can mutually conduct an electronic conference. It is related to a conference system.

[Conventional technology]

In the prior art, there is a device, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 59-44152, which sends and displays memos only to arbitrary participants during a meeting.

[11 that the invention attempts to solve! [Ic Zhao] However, the conventional device is compatible only when each terminal is in a conference, that is, when the same still image file, etc. is displayed, and each terminal has a separate program. There was a problem in that it could not be applied in cases where the system is running and is not in a state to participate in a meeting.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides a state in which an electronic conference can be held at any time between one terminal and one or more other terminals, regardless of the type of work on each terminal. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an electronic conference system that can be created and, when the conference ends, return to the same state as when it was interrupted due to the conference on each base, allowing work to be continued before the conference. .

[Tricks to solve problems]

The above object is to perform program execution processing on a terminal as the terminal control means in an electronic conference system comprising a plurality of remote terminal devices connected by a communication line, including at least a display means, a communication unit control means, and a terminal control means. the communication control means displays the same screen on the display means at each terminal through a communication line, establishes an electronic conference between the terminals, and when the conference ends, each terminal resumes the program execution processing at the time of interruption. This is achieved by providing an electronic conference system with the following characteristics.

[Effect]

According to the present invention, when a special key is pressed manually on a certain terminal in order to conduct an electronic conference, the uncontrolled means A first interrupts the program execution process at that point and displays the area for the electronic conference on the display means. At the same time, a command is issued to the communication control means through the idle communication line to cause the terminal control means of the other terminals to display the electronic conference area on their display means, which causes the terminal control means of the other terminals to interrupt the execution of their respective programs. Each terminal can conduct an electronic conference through the same screen displayed on the display means of each terminal. If the terminal control means of each terminal memorizes the address on the storage device of the program that was being executed immediately before the conference started, the program execution process can be resumed after the conference ends, preventing an unexpected e-conference from being held. There is no need to worry about trouble occurring with individual tasks.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to a terminal device configuration diagram (Fig. 1).
, processing 7a- (FIG. 2), and an example of electronic conference operation (FIG. 3).

In Fig. 1, 11 is a storage device for storing programs and data necessary for holding an electronic conference, 12 is a processing device that accesses information in the storage device, and 13 is a device for communicating with other terminals. Communication control device for communication1%14,15
16 is a keyboard and display for performing interactive processing with the user, and 16 is a communication circuit connected to perform communication between the terminals.

The storage device 11 includes a terminal control unit 111 that stores various information for controlling the terminal, a key manual processing program unit 112 that sets special key input to start an electronic conference, There is a key manual processing cancellation program section 115 for canceling the settings and returning to the original state.

The terminal control unit 111 includes a key manual processing information management unit 1111 for managing information related to Φ-human power of the terminal before performing Φ-human processing, the display status of the terminal before conducting the electronic conference, etc. Interruption information management unit 111 for managing the address on the storage device that was being read by the processing device
2. There is an electronic conference information management unit 1115 for managing the position, size, etc. of the conference window that opens on the display when the electronic conference starts. It should be noted that various other programs are stored in the storage device 11 (not stored in the storage device 11).

An electronic conference system in which two terminal devices configured as described above are mutually connected by the communication line 16 will be explained first according to the processing flow a in FIG. 2, and a system with three or more Ruki f devices will be described will be followed by an explanation.

As shown in FIG. 3, there is a system as described above, and the respective terminals are A and B. In order to conduct an electronic conference, the functions of the key human processing program section 112 in both A and B need to be executed. Through this execution, key input reception for starting and ending the electronic conference is set as in step 21, but at this time, the key input reception status of each terminal before this execution is changed to the key input information management section. 1111K stored.

Next, start any program with this input key acceptance setting set. In FIG. 3, the program starts up and is displayed on the display as shown at 511 in A, and as shown in 312 in B (step 22). In this state, at A, the operator performs step 23 of inputting the start key set in step 21 through the keyboard in order to conduct an electronic conference. Then, in A who first inputs the start key, the screen on the display at that time is saved, the program is interrupted, and the address on the storage device at that time is changed. Both of these pieces of information are stored in the interruption information management unit 1112.

Then, information regarding the position and size of the conference window on the screen is read from the electronic conference information management unit 1115, and the conference window is opened as shown in 321. When that is finished, the key human processing program unit 112 communicates with the processing device 12 through the communication axis 16 to the other terminal, that is, the communication control device of B.・Execute commands such as displaying the conference window. The state of B's display at that time is as shown at 522. A cursor is displayed in the window (step 24). From here, regardless of whether it is A or E, press the key manually from that keyboard (step 25
1) and display the input key at the cursor position in the meeting window on both displays [Step 2
52), but this continues until the end conference key is entered on either keyboard (step 25). Not only does the echo pack display key input from the keyboard on the conference window on the display of one's own terminal, but it also transmits the input keys from the keyboard through the processing unit and communication control unit of the own terminal, through the communication line, and then to the conference window on the display of the other terminal. This input Φ− is also displayed. In this way, the characters 551 and 552 are displayed so that the cursor position matches the displayed character examples in both of the display windows.

The electronic conference is held in this way, but A.

When either B inputs the above-mentioned conference end key to end the electronic conference, the conference window on the display of the own terminal is first retracted and the interruption information management unit 1112 is exposed. The part covered with is redisplayed, and the program is restarted from the address on the memory titt at the time of interruption, which was stored in the same part. At the same time, it also works on other terminals, closing the conference window, redisplaying the screen, and restarting the interrupted Gummygram (Step 26, the status on the displays of both terminals returns to 511 and 521, and the program is restarted from here. ). After completing this program, if the key manual processing cancellation program unit 1150 machine 11 is raised, the key manual reception setup in step 21 is canceled and the terminal returns to its original state (step 28).

This reset is performed separately on each terminal. This completes the procedure (step 29).

If there are five or more electronic conference terminals, each connected by a communication axis, and the electronic conference key manual reception setting (step 21) has already been set, the conference can be held in the same way as when there are two terminals. Can be done. In addition, the above procedure assumes that an electronic conference is started while any program is running on each terminal, but if the program is not running, that is, when the operating system (O
It should be noted that this method is also executable in case 5).

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, in an electronic conference system, a conference can be started while any program is running, and the interrupted program can be resumed after the conference ends, so there is no need to worry about troubles caused by individual tasks caused by suddenly holding a conference. It has the advantage of not having

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure WJ1 is a configuration diagram of a terminal device that is a component of an electronic conference system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a terminal device that is a component of an electronic conference system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the operation of the electronic meeting 1 when there are two terminals configuring the system.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In an electronic conference system consisting of a plurality of remote communication terminal devices connected by a communication line, the terminal control means includes at least a display means, a communication control means, and a terminal control means, and the terminal control means interrupts the program execution process in the terminal and controls the communication. The present invention is characterized by providing means for displaying the same screen on the display means at each terminal through a communication line to establish an electronic conference between the terminals, and means for restarting the interrupted program execution process on each terminal when the conference ends. electronic conference system.