JPH05292496A - Intermulti-spot video communication system utilizing satellite communication - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To make the motion of a speaker and the own station monitor image coincide and to completely solve the problem of echoes for the voice of the speaker for the image and voice of the speaker at a speaking station. CONSTITUTION:For an intermulti-spot video conference system constituted of a center station where a chairman 1 is present and plural remote stations 21 and 31 to attend the conference, to monitors 18 and 28 for the images and speakers 20 and 30 for the voice of the speakers of respective remote stations 12 and 22, the other station speaker receiving signals of a satellite channel are outputted when the other stations are the speakers, and when the own station is the speaker, changeover switches 15, 16, 25, and 26 to return the image and the voice of the own station speaker within the own station and outputs them are provided at an earth station.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be applied to a multipoint video conference system using satellite communication, and also has a similar system configuration such as a remote education system and a company information transmission system for conducting various questions and answers. The present invention relates to a multipoint video communication system applicable to the above application.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A multi-point video conference system using satellite communication is basically composed of a star network having a chair station as a center station and a plurality of participating stations as remote stations.

At this time, it is general to use two channels for transmitting the video / audio and one channel for transmitting the control signal as the satellite line.

One of the two channels for video / audio transmission is a channel used by the chairperson station and is constantly transmitted during the conference and broadcasted to all conference participating stations. In other words, the chair's video and audio can always be monitored by all stations.

The remaining one channel for video / audio transmission is a channel for a speaker and is assigned to the speaker station. In other words, this channel is
It will be flexibly switched and connected. By this channel, the video and audio of the speaker are broadcasted to all other stations. Therefore, the third party station other than the chairperson station and the speaker station can see the state of the dialogue between the chairperson and the speaker by receiving the above-mentioned two channels.

[0006] Control of a message request, switching of a message station, etc. is performed using a channel for transmitting a control signal.

In the case of constructing a multi-point video conference system, when a ground line is used, basically the lines must be drawn in a mesh form for all stations, and the line usage fee becomes heavy.

On the other hand, when the satellite line is used, as described above, the satellite line is switched and used, whereby basically two channels of the channel for the chairperson station and the channel for the speaker and control are provided. Can be configured with only one channel for. This is one of the great advantages of using a satellite line when configuring a multipoint video conference system. In addition, as those related to this type of satellite communication system, there are Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2-65426 and 2-7.
No. 3,758, etc. are cited.

[0009]

In the multi-point video conference system using the satellite line, the conventional method of processing the video / audio of the commenting station is basically the satellite line even in the commenting station. It monitors the looped video and audio. This is because the satellite channel assigned to the speaking station is a speaking channel shared by all stations,
This happens because the same channel is received even when the own station is the talking station.

As a result, the satellite turnaround delay time (about 1/4
(1) There is a time lag between the speaker's action and the action on the local station monitor. (2) The voice from the local speaker is delayed with respect to the live voice of the speaker. There is a problem of echo coming in, and the method of eliminating the echoed sound by the echo canceller is adopted, but there is a problem that it can not be completely eliminated.

[0011] The present invention relates to a multipoint video communication system using satellite communication, in which the video of the local station
The purpose is to solve the (1) time lag between the speaker's movement and the operation on the local station monitor, which is caused by monitoring the voice by satellite loopback (2) incomplete cancellation of the voice echo of the speaker. To do.

[0012]

According to the present invention, a speaker station in a satellite communication multipoint video communication system or the like is provided when a chairman station permits a speaker to output video / audio of a speaker to a monitor / speaker. Then, instead of the received image / sound from the satellite that has been used up to that point, the image / sound of the speaker who returned in his / her own station is switched.

[0013]

As a result, at the uttering station in the satellite communication multipoint video communication system, etc., (1) the operation of the speaker and the operation on the own station monitor match (2) the voice echo of the speaker is completely It can be eliminated, and smooth conference progress can be achieved without discomfort.

[0014]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a multipoint video conference system consisting of a center station 8 having a chairman 1 and remote stations 12 and 22 participating in a conference. In this example, two remote stations will be described for the sake of convenience, but the same applies when the number of remote stations is three or more. Further, for simplification of the description, parts relating to system control such as a message request and a message station switching are omitted, but those controls are performed through a satellite channel for control.

The video and audio of the chair 1 are recorded by the camera 2 respectively.
Also, it is input to the microphone 4 and transmitted to the center station 8, and is broadcast to all remote stations via the communication satellite 11 by the channel 9 of the satellite channel for the chair station. Remote station 12
Then, the channel 9 is received and the video / audio of the chairperson 1 is output to the monitor 13 and the speaker 14, respectively. Similarly, the remote station 22 outputs the video / audio of the chairperson 1 to the monitor 23 and the speaker 24, respectively.

Now, it is assumed that the conference participant 21 of the remote station 12 has made a speech request. In this case, with the permission of the chairperson 1, the channel 10 of the satellite line for the speaker is assigned to the remote station 12.

The video and audio of the speaker 21 are input from the camera 17 and the microphone 19, respectively, and distributed on the way,
One is transmitted to the remote station 12, and the other is transmitted to the changeover switches 15 and 16.

Changeover switches 15 and 16 provided in the earth station
Is the point of the present invention.

The changeover switch is switched by a control command from the chairman bureau when the chairman permits the speech.

The image of the camera 17 is output to the monitor 18 through the changeover switch 15 for the image. The voice of the microphone 19 is output to the speaker 20 through the voice changeover switch 16.

As a result, the video / audio of the speaker 21 is looped back within itself and output to the monitor / speaker without being affected by the satellite line propagation delay. Also, microphone 19
The voice input from the center station 12 is input to the channel 10
Is transmitted to the remote station 12 via the return transmission line 32 of the channel 10 via the communication satellite 11. The signal received by the remote station 12 reaches the changeover switch 16 for voice, but since the changeover switch 16 is switched to the loopback side in the own station, the input is cut.
Therefore, the voice echo signal for the speaker's voice can be completely cut.

As a result, the speaker 21 can see the image of the monitor 18 which is not delayed with respect to his / her own motion, and can hear the speaker output sound without voice echo, so that the conversation can be carried out without any discomfort. It can be performed.

On the other hand, the video / audio of the speaker 21 is transmitted to other stations as follows.

The video / audio input by the camera 17 and the microphone 19 is transmitted to the remote station 12, and is transmitted to the center station and other remote stations via the communication satellite 11 by the channel 10 of the satellite channel for the speaking station. Will be broadcast to.

The video and audio of the speaker 21 received by the center station 8 are output to the monitor 6 and the speaker 7, respectively.

The video / audio of the speaker 21 received by the remote station 22 is transmitted to the video switch 25 and the audio switch 26, respectively. Since the changeover switches 25 and 26 are not the speaking stations themselves, the switches are switched to the side capable of receiving the signals of other speaking stations. Therefore, the video / audio of the speaker 21 who has reached the changeover switches 25 and 26 passes through the changeover switches 25 and 26 and is output to the monitor 28 and the speaker 30.

As described above, the conversation between the chairman 1 and the speaker 21 can be viewed in all stations.

Next, when the conference participant 31 makes a speech request, the channel 10 of the satellite channel for the speech station, which had been assigned to the remote station 12, is assigned to the remote station 22, and the same as above. With the above mechanism, the chairman 1 and the speaker 31 can have a conversation.

As described above, a video conference between multiple points can be constructed.

For convenience of speaker of each station,
Although the explanation has been made by dividing into the speaker for speaker output and the speaker for speaker voice output, it is also possible to use one speaker by mixing in the station.

[0032]

According to the present invention, in a uttering station in a video communication system such as a satellite communication multipoint video communication system, the action of the speaker and the image on the monitor of the own station are the same, and Since there is no voice echo, it is possible to have a smooth conversation without discomfort to the speaker.
It is possible to hold a multipoint conference with a sense of presence.

Further, with the same configuration, it can be applied to a wide range of applications such as a remote education system and a company information transmission system.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... Chairman, 2 ... Chairman's camera, 3 ... Chairman's video monitor, 4 ... Chairman's microphone, 5 ... Chairman's audio speaker, 6 ... Speaker video monitor, 7 ... Speaker audio speaker, 8 ... Center station , 9 ... Satellite channel channel for center station, 10 ... Satellite channel channel for comment station, 11 ... Communication satellite, 12 ... Remote station, 13 ... Chairperson video monitor, 14 ... Chairperson voice speaker, 15 ... Video changeover switch, 16 ... Voice changeover switch, 17 ... Caller camera, 18 ... Caller video monitor, 19 ... Caller microphone, 20 ... Speaker audio speaker, 21 ... Conference attendee (speaker), 22 ... Remote Station, 23 ... Chairman video monitor, 24 ... Chairman audio speaker, 25 ... Video changeover switch, 26 ... Voice changeover switch, 27 ... Speaker camera, 28 ... Speaker video monitor 29 ... speaker microphone, 30 ... speaker audio speaker, 31 ... conferees, 32 ... transmission line from the communications satellite 11 remarks station for satellite line channel 10 to the remote station 12.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. In a multipoint video communication system using satellite communication, the monitor display of the video / audio of the speaker at the speaking station is displayed from the satellite that has been in use at the time when the chairperson station permits speaking. A multipoint video communication system using satellite communication, which is characterized by switching to the live video / audio of the speaker instead of the received video / audio. 2. The satellite communication earth station device at each point according to claim 1, wherein a means for switching between the received image / sound from the satellite and the live image / sound of the speaker and a means for controlling this are provided. A multipoint multipoint video communication system using satellite communication.