JPH0352371A - Conference system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain marking processing with a simple operation by using a coordinate input device connecting to a terminal equipment assigned to a conference participant and controlling a display position of a mark to indicate a notice point of an information content displayed on a central display device. CONSTITUTION:Each of terminal equipments 1a-1n is provided with a display device (5a-5n) displaying same information as that of a central display device 4 and a coordinate input device (6a-6n) indicating the display position of a mark added to the display information on the central display device 4. Then a terminal designation device 7 provided with a function designating selectively one of the plural terminal equipments 1a-1n is used by selectively designating a conference participant to control the movement of a mark on the central display device 4 according to the information inputted from the coordinate input devices 6a-6n of a selected and designated terminal equipment. Thus, the function of the terminal equipments 1a-1n is effectively utilized without use other device as an indication rod or a ray gun and the information content displayed on the central display device 4 is efficiently designated by the mark.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention provides a system for all conference participants to visually view conference materials for presentation given from terminal devices placed at each conference participant. The present invention relates to a conference system suitable for proceeding with a conference while displaying information using a central display device.

(Prior Art) Recently, various attempts have been made to support the progress of meetings using information processing devices. For example, in conventional meetings and lectures, conference materials have been presented using so-called blackboards and projectors. It can be created with the support of information processing devices such as computers via a computer, or created using terminal devices such as workstations owned by individual conference participants, and collected by a central control device. Attempts have been made to display on a central display.

According to such a conference system, with the support of an information processing device, for example, a huge amount of material information can be efficiently organized to create conference materials, and the conference materials can be created under instructions from a terminal device. This brings about effects such as making it possible to proceed with the meeting efficiently by simply presenting and outputting the information on the central display device.

By the way, when proceeding with a meeting by displaying such conference materials as a presentation, it is often the case that the conference materials are explained while selectively indicating information items, etc. on the display screen. Indication of information content on such a display screen has conventionally been generally performed using a pointer stick or a light beam gun. However, as described above, when using the terminal devices assigned to conference participants with the support of the information processing device and proceeding with the conference by displaying information provided from each terminal device on the central display device, the above-mentioned pointer stick and Directing information content on a display screen using a ray gun is very cumbersome. In particular, since it is necessary to handle a device separate from the terminal device such as a pointer and a ray gun, the operability is very poor.

(Problem to be Solved by the Invention) In this way, in the past, information inputted from a plurality of terminal devices provided corresponding to conference participants was transferred to a location where the conference participants could see the information. Even if you build a conference system to proceed with the conference by displaying it on a central display device,
Since a device such as a pointer stick or a light gun is used to indicate the information content on the display screen, there are problems such as very poor operability.

The present invention has been made in consideration of these circumstances, and its purpose is to effectively utilize the terminal devices provided for each conference participant to display information displayed on the central display device. An object of the present invention is to provide a conference system that makes it possible to easily and efficiently indicate points of interest regarding the information content of conference materials and the like.

[Configuration of the Invention (Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention includes a plurality of terminal devices respectively arranged corresponding to conference participants, and each terminal device arranged at a position visible to the conference participants. A conference system including a central display device that displays information input from a device, wherein each of the terminal devices includes a display device that displays the same information as the central display device, and a central display device that displays the same information as the central display device. a coordinate input device for inputting a display position of a mark attached to the displayed information; and a coordinate input device for inputting a display position of a mark to be added to the display information, and by selectively specifying the conference participant, one of the plurality of terminal devices Using a terminal designation device equipped with a designation function, only the display position instruction information of the mark from the coordinate input device provided on the terminal device designated by the terminal designation device is valid and displayed on the central display device. This feature is characterized in that the movement of the marks that are displayed is controlled.

(Function) According to the present invention, one of the coordinate input devices provided in each of a plurality of terminal devices is selected and specified, and the central display device is displayed according to information input from the coordinate input device of the selected terminal. Since the movement of the mark on the screen is controlled, the mark can be easily and efficiently displayed on the central display by effectively utilizing the functions of the terminal device without using other devices such as a pointing stick or a ray gun. It becomes possible to specify the information content that is currently available using the above marks. Moreover, since the movement of the mark is controlled only according to instructions from one of the coordinate input devices provided in each of the plurality of terminal devices, for example, there may be an involuntary large number of Problems such as the mark being displayed or the display position of the mark being moved involuntarily by instructions from another terminal device are eliminated.

(Example) Hereinafter, a conference system according to an example of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an embodiment system, and La. 1
b, ~in are a plurality of terminal devices provided corresponding to each of a plurality (n) of conference participants, and 1x is a conference facilitator (
This is a specific terminal device installed in correspondence with a person (chairperson, moderator, etc.). These terminal devices 1a, lb, ~In
, LX may be realized as a workstation with independent information processing functions, or may be connected to a host computer (not shown) via a communication path 2 to be described later, and each information processing operation may be controlled independently. It may be realized as a user output terminal.

However, these terminal devices 1a. 1b. ~in and the specific terminal device 1x are commonly connected to the central control device 3 via a predetermined data communication path 2.

Presentation information (meeting materials) for presentation given from the terminal devices 1a, lb, ~In is transmitted to the central control device 3 via the communication path 2, and is placed at a position where the plurality of conference participants can see it. The information is displayed on the central display device 4.

In other words, conference participants must use the terminal device 1a assigned to them.
, lb, -In respectively input information on conference materials to be displayed using the central display device 4 and presented to other conference participants, and the central control device 3 inputs information from these terminal devices 1a.
lb. Input information from ~in is collected via the communication path 2 and displayed on the central display device 4.

Here, the present system is characterized by the terminal devices 1a, Ib. ~ In, lx the central display device 4 mentioned above
Display devices 5a, 5b, .about.5n, and 5x capable of displaying the same information as that displayed on the terminal devices 1a, lb, and 1n are provided, respectively, and the terminal devices 1a, lb, and 1n are equipped with a tablet and a mouse'. The point is that coordinate input devices 6a, 6b, to 6n each consisting of 17 are provided. These display devices 5a, 5b,
~5n and coordinate input device 6a. [ib. ~6n may have a structure in which a transparent tablet is laminated and integrated on the display surface, for example. Coordinate input device 8a. 6b, ~6n
When indicating a point of interest using a mark such as an arrow or a cursor with respect to the information content of conference materials being presented and displayed on the central display device 4, coordinate information specifying the display position of the mark is provided. It is for input. Specifically, each of the coordinate input devices 8a, 6b, to 6n
1. For example, when displaying meeting materials A as shown in Figure 2 and pointing out points of interest in the information using arrows (marks) B, you can specify the position of arrows (marks) B. Used to input coordinate information.

By the way, a plurality of terminal devices 1a, Ib. If the coordinate information for specifying the indicated position of the arrow (mark) B is input all at once from the coordinate input devices 8a, 8b, and ~6n installed at ~In, unnecessary confusion may occur in the display control. In order to avoid such a problem, in this embodiment system, a terminal designation device is assigned to a specific terminal device lx provided corresponding to the aforementioned conference facilitator (head a, moderator, etc.). 7 is provided, and according to the instruction information from this terminal designation device 7, the aforementioned plurality of terminal devices 1a.lb, to 1
Only one of n is selected and the arrow (mark) B is selected according to the input coordinate information from the coordinate input device provided there.
The display position is controlled.

The terminal devices 6a, 6b . ~8n
For example, as shown in Figure 3(a), the face photos and names of conference participants are displayed in a table format, and this can be selectively designated to designate a speaker. This is done by specifying the terminal device assigned to the conference participant,
Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 3(b), a seating arrangement map of the conference is displayed, conference participants are designated according to the seating arrangement, and their terminal devices are specified. Of course, the terminal device number (
It goes without saying that the designation may be made by directly inputting a code (code) or by selectively operating a key switch associated with each terminal device.

According to the conference system configured in this way,
Only the mark display position control information from the coordinate input device connected to the terminal device specified by the terminal designation device 7 is given to the central control device 3, and the display position of the mark on the display screen of the central display device 4 is variably controlled. This eliminates needless confusion in controlling the mark display position. Then, only the designated conference participants can easily and efficiently give instructions on presentation content using marks using the terminal device and coordinate input device assigned to them.

Note that when a mouse is used as a coordinate input device, the amount of movement per unit time obtained from the mouse [dx. dy]
and the terminal identification code N1 are given to the central control device 3, and the central control device 3 calculates the above-mentioned movement amount [dx, dy ]. Then, the amount of movement [dx, dy] is added to the information [x, y] of the current mark display position. Then, the display position of the mark may be changed to [x+dx, y+dyl, and this may be used as current position information. At this time, the same screen as the display screen displayed on the central display device 4 is displayed on the display device of the terminal device, and the mark display position control information is inputted to this display screen. For example, it becomes possible to input the instruction information easily.

Regarding the change of the designated terminal, the terminal designation device 7 gives the terminal identification code N1 of the new terminal device designated to the central control device 3, and uses this to give the terminal identification code N1 stored in the central control device 3. All you have to do is update it. Furthermore, by controlling so that only the designated terminal device can operate, it is also possible to prevent information input to the central control device 3 from other terminals than the designated terminal device.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. In the length example, an arrow was shown as an example of a mark, but
It goes without saying that it may be a cursor or the like, or it may be information that specifies an area.

Specifically, it is also possible to mark by changing the display color or inverting the display content of the designated area. Further, as a communication path connecting the plurality of terminal devices and the central control device, it goes without saying that various wireless communication means may be used, and it is also possible to use a local area network. In addition, the present invention can be implemented with various modifications without departing from the gist thereof.

[Effects of the Invention] As explained above, according to the present invention, points of interest in the information content displayed on the central display device can be determined using the coordinate input device connected to the terminal device assigned to each lecture participant. Since the display position of the mark for instructing is controlled, marking (pointing) processing can be performed with a simple operation. Moreover, since there is no need to use a separate device such as a ray gun, it is possible to achieve effects such as greatly improving the ease of handling.

Further, according to the present invention, only the instruction information from the coordinate input device connected to a designated terminal device among the coordinate input devices provided in each terminal device is used as valid information to control the display position of the mark. Effects such as no needless confusion occurring in display position control can be achieved.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration example of a conference system according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of displaying conference materials and marks displayed as a presentation on a central display device, The figure is a diagram showing an example of a display screen used for terminal device designation in the terminal designation device. Ia. Ib, ~In...Terminal device (for conference participants)
, I! ...Specific terminal device (for moderator) 2...
Communication path, 3... Central control device, 4... Central display device, 5a, 5b, ~5n. 5x...display device, 6a. 6
b, ~6n... Coordinate input device, 7... Terminal designation device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] A plurality of terminal devices disposed at each of the conference participants, and a central display device disposed at a position visible to the conference participants and displaying information input from each of the terminal devices. In the conference system, each of the terminal devices is provided with a display for displaying the same information as the central display device, and a mark is attached to the displayed information on the central display device. Each is equipped with a coordinate input device to input the position,
It has a function of selectively specifying one of the plurality of terminal devices by selecting and specifying the conference participant, and only receives display position instruction information of the mark from a coordinate input device provided on the specified terminal device. A conference system characterized in that a device for specifying a valid terminal is provided.