JPH0230624B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a remote conference device that transmits conference materials as images in a remote conference.

In a remote conference, when transmitting materials during the meeting and displaying the same materials on a display device such as a CRT or projector between separate conference rooms, the speed of the communication line may affect the progress of the conference. give. If the size of the document is JIS A4 size and it is transmitted as a binary image input at the same resolution of 8 lines/mm as a business facsimile, the amount of information in one image will be 400kbit to 1Mbit even if data is compressed. I get tired of it. If you draw a high-speed dedicated line as a communication line and transmit this image data using a modem of about 224 kbps or 448 kbps, it will be possible to
Data transmission is completed in 4 seconds, but communication costs are high. On the other hand, if low-speed regular telephone lines are used to reduce communication costs,
It can only be transmitted at about 9.6kbps, and it takes about 40 seconds to 2 minutes to transmit one sheet of data.

Conventional teleconferencing devices require high communication costs when attempting to transmit materials at such high speeds.In order to reduce communication costs, using a low-speed communication line results in a large amount of time being spent transmitting materials, making the conference difficult. The drawback was that it hindered the smooth progress of the project.

An object of the present invention is to provide a remote conference system that can quickly and easily display the same material simultaneously in distant conference rooms without interfering with the smooth progress of the conference even in remote conferences using low-speed lines as communication lines. We will provide conference equipment.

The remote conference device of the present invention is a remote conference device that transmits conference materials as an image, and includes means for inputting an image, a first image file means for storing the input image, and an ID number and file address of the input image. a first table storage means for storing a correspondence table; a means for transmitting an input image and its corresponding ID number or only the ID number; and a means for receiving the transmitted image and ID number or only the ID number. a second image file means for storing the received image; a second table storage means for storing a correspondence table between the ID number of the received image and the file address; and the first and second image file means. It is characterized by comprising a display means that switches and displays a stored input image and a received image.

With the image transmission device of the present invention, by simply transmitting the ID number of the document image during a conference, the previously transmitted document is automatically read out and displayed at high speed from an image file device such as a DISK. This has the advantage that the conference will not be interrupted for a long time due to the image transmission time.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to drawings showing embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of a remote conference device of the present invention. The input unit 1 may be an optical image input device such as a facsimile or scanner, or a coordinate reading device such as a digitizer. The display unit 3 is an image display device such as a CRT display or a projector.

Input image file section 6, received image file section 7
is an electronic file device such as a magnetic disk or an optical disk. The compression unit 4 and the expansion unit 5 are circuits that encode and decode image data using a data compression method (such as run-length encoding) used in general facsimile machines.

The memory 2, the input image table storage section 9, and the received image table storage section 10 are storage circuits using RAM (random access memory), etc., and the transmission/reception section 11 is equipped with a modem, etc., and transmits data to and from the communication line. The control unit 8 is a circuit that controls the operation of the entire device.
Taking as an example a case where the remote conference devices shown in FIG. 1 are installed in two far-distant conference rooms (conference room A and conference room B), and a conference is held using communication lines, this embodiment will be described. Explain the operation.

Prior to the meeting, in the conference room A, materials necessary for the meeting are inputted from the input unit 1. The input unit 1 converts conference materials into a binary image (an image composed of binary values of white and black) and writes it into the memory 2. Write request signal 1
01 to the control unit 8, the control unit 8 determines the file address 105 in which the input image in the input image file unit 6 is to be written, sends this to the input image file unit 6, and also writes the input image in the memory to the compression unit 4. The compressed image signal after processing is sent to the input image file section 6 via the memory 2. The input image file section 6 writes compressed data of the input image according to the file address 105. The above operation is repeated for a plurality of input images and written to the input image file section 6. In this way, the control unit 8 controls the file writing of each input image, and also automatically assigns an ID number (a number assigned to each image to distinguish between images) to each input image. ), a correspondence table between the ID number of the input image and the file address in the input image file unit 6 is created, and the table is stored in the input image table storage unit 9. For example, the ID number is No. 1,
It can be determined in the form of No. 2, No. 3, etc.
Furthermore, together with the write request signal 101, an ID number for the input image can also be specified from outside. An example of the correspondence table is shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, ADR _o represents the file address for ID number n. After inputting images of all conference materials, when a transmission request signal 102 is given to the control unit 8,
The control unit 8 reads the correspondence table between ID numbers and file addresses from the input image table storage unit 9, and sequentially inputs the file addresses 105 of the input images to the input image file unit 6 according to this correspondence table.
At the same time, the corresponding ID number 107 is sent to the transmitting/receiving section 11. The compressed image signal of the input image read out from the input image file unit 6 according to the file address 105 is sent to the transmitting/receiving unit 1 via the memory 2.
Sent to 1. The transmitting/receiving signal 11 converts the ID number 107 into a compressed image signal 106 according to instructions from the control unit 8.
, and is transmitted to the communication line 108. An example of the structure of the transmission signal is shown in FIG.

In conference room B, the compressed image signal transmitted from conference room A through the communication line 108 and the compressed image signal are
The ID number is received, and the compressed image signal 106 is sent to the memory 2 and the ID number 107 is sent to the control unit 8. The control section 8 determines the file address 104 of the received image in the received image file section 7 and sends it to the received image file section 7. The received image file section 7 writes the compressed image signal stored in the memory 2 according to the file address 104. The control unit 8 controls the writing of the received image to a file, creates a correspondence table between the received ID number 107 and the file address 104 of the corresponding image, and stores it in the received image table storage unit 10. The ID number of the input image and the ID number of the received image should be distinguishable.

With the above operations, the compressed image signal of the image input in conference room A is stored in the input image file section 6 of conference room A and the received image file section 7 of conference room B, and a correspondence table using a common ID number is created. The input image table storage unit 9 of conference room A and the received image table storage unit 10 of conference room B are stored. In the same manner, materials necessary for the conference are inputted from the input unit 1 in the conference room B, and the compressed image signal processed by the compression unit 4 is stored in the input image file unit 6 of the conference room B. The received image file unit 7 of conference room A stores the received image file. Further, a correspondence table between ID numbers and file addresses of images input in conference room B is stored in the input image table storage section 9 of conference room B and the received image table storage section 10 of conference room A.

This completes the input operation of meeting materials. Next, operations during a meeting will be explained.

In the conference room A, a read request signal 10 is sent to the control unit 8.
By giving 3, the image input in advance can be read and displayed. The read request signal 103 may be the ID number of the image directly,
Once the ID number is input, signals in the form of "next material" and "previous material" may be sent according to the ID number procedure. In the control unit 8, this read request signal 1
03, the corresponding ID number 10
7 from the transmitting/receiving section to conference room B,
Referring to the correspondence table between ID numbers and file addresses stored in the input image table storage unit 9, the file address 105 corresponding to the ID number is determined.
is determined and sent to the input image file section 6. The compressed image signal read out from the input image file 6 according to the file address 105 is sent to the decompression section 5 via the memory 2 and is restored to the original image signal.

The expanded image signal is displayed on the display section 3 written in the memory 2.

On the other hand, in conference room B, the
When an ID number is received, the received image corresponding to this ID number is displayed. When the control unit 8 receives the received ID number, it refers to the correspondence table of the received images in the received image table storage unit 10 and determines the received ID number.
Find the file address 104 corresponding to the number,
It is sent to the received image file section 7. The compressed image signal read out from the received image file section 7 is returned to the original image in the decompression section 5 as in conference room A, and then displayed on the display section 3.
will be displayed. In this way, when conference room A issues a read request signal and transmits the ID number to conference room B, the materials previously input in conference room A are displayed on the display sections of conference rooms A and B at the same time. Similarly, when a read request signal 103 is given to the control unit 8 in conference room B and the ID number is sent to conference room A, the materials input in advance in conference room B are received in conference room A from the input image file section in conference room B. The images are read out from the image file section and displayed simultaneously.

Furthermore, since the ID number of the input image and the ID number of the received image can be distinguished, it is possible to give a readout request signal for not only the input image but also the received image to the control unit in each conference room so that they can be displayed simultaneously.

The time from when a read request signal is given in one conference room until the entire image is displayed in the other conference room is [ID number transmission time] + [file read time], and the ID number transmission time is: Even if you use a low-speed line of 9.6k bps, it will only take a few + msec,
The display is completed in almost the time it takes to read the file. If you input an image of A4 size documents at a resolution of 8 lines/mm and compress it to about 1/10 and write it to a file, it will only take a few seconds to read the file, and the reading and display of the documents will make it easier for meetings. The smooth progress of the project will not be hindered.

In this embodiment, the input image file section and the received image file section have been explained separately, but when realizing the apparatus of the present invention, one DISK apparatus or the like can be used separately. Similarly, one storage device can be used separately for the input image table storage and the received image table storage.

In this embodiment, the image data is compressed and then filed and transmitted; however, it is of course possible to file and transmit the original image as it is. In this case, the compression section and expansion section are no longer necessary.

In this embodiment, all input images are written in the input image file section and then read out one by one and transmitted, but it may be transmitted each time an image is input from the input section. It is also possible to send only the designated images by giving the ID number to the control unit along with the transmission request signal.

In this embodiment, we have explained the case where a remote conference is held between two conference rooms, but by transmitting input images and ID numbers between multiple conference rooms,
It can be easily extended to remote conferences when three or more conference rooms are connected.

Note that the images handled by the present invention can be expanded to include not only binary images but also multivalued images and color images.

As is clear from the above explanation, by using the image transmission device of the present invention, it is possible to display the same material between distant conference rooms at the same time in about the time it takes to read the image file device, and it is possible to display the same material simultaneously in distant conference rooms. Even when the meeting room is closed, materials can be displayed without interfering with the smooth progress of the meeting.

Furthermore, if a floating disk is used as an image file device, it is easy to replace and carry, so you can store related materials for each individual as a personal file and bring it to any conference room as needed. Data can be displayed and transmitted.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figure 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 2 is a diagram showing an example of a correspondence table between image ID numbers and file addresses, and Figure 3 is a diagram showing an example of a correspondence table between image ID numbers and file addresses. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a signal to be transmitted. Each number in the figure indicates the following. 1...Input section, 2...Memory, 3...Display section, 4...
Compression section, 5... Decompression section, 6... Input image file section,
7... Received image file section, 8... Control section, 9... Input image table storage section, 10... Received image table storage section, 11... Transmission/reception section, 101... Write request signal, 102... Transmission request signal, 103... Read request signal , 104...File address of received image,
105...File address of input image, 106...
Compressed image signal, 107...ID number, 108...communication line.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A remote conference device that transmits conference materials as images between a first conference room and a second conference room, including means for inputting images into each conference room and storing the input images. a first image file means; a means for setting an ID number for the input image; a first table storage means for storing a correspondence table between the ID number of the input image and the file address; The input image and its corresponding ID
means for receiving the transmitted image and ID number before the start of the meeting and receiving only the ID number during the meeting; a second image file means for storing received images; and a second image file means for storing a correspondence table between ID numbers of received images and file addresses.
table storage means, and display means for displaying the images stored in the first and second image file means on a display device according to the ID numbers, and before the start of the meeting, in the first conference room. inputting an image, storing the inputted image in the first image file means, setting an ID number for the inputted image,
A correspondence table between this ID number and the file address where the input image is stored is stored in the first table storage means, and the input image and the corresponding table are stored in the first table storage means.
transmitting the ID number to the second conference room, receiving the image and the ID number in the second conference room, storing the received image in the second image file means, and transmitting the ID number of the received image and the received image; A correspondence table with the file address where the image is stored is stored in the second table storage means, and during the meeting, by specifying the ID number in the first conference room, this ID number is transferred to the second conference room. At the same time as sending the data specified from the corresponding table stored in the first table storage means.
The file address of the image corresponding to the ID number is obtained, and according to this file address, the image corresponding to the specified ID number is read out from the first image file means and displayed on the display means, and in the second conference room. receiving an ID number from a corresponding table stored in the second table storage means;
The file address of the image corresponding to the ID number is obtained, and according to this file address, the image corresponding to the ID number received from the second image file means is read out and displayed on the display means, and the conference is also held in the second conference room. A remote conference device that performs control corresponding to the first conference room before the start of the conference and during the conference.