JPH06217303A - Utterance controller in inter-multi-point communication conference system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To improve the utilizing efficiency of a transmission line of a conventional inter-multi-point video conference system in which two-way lines are always set between each terminal equipment and an inter-multi-point video conference controller. CONSTITUTION:In the utterance control system, a unidirectional line of a communication network 301 such as a broad band ISDN and its distribution function are utilized to use the communication network efficiently and a 2-way line is not always set between terminal equipments 302-305 taking part in the conference and the inter-multi-point video conference controller 300 but the unidirectional line is set to other persons than persons making frequent utterance. Furthermore, the 2-way line is additionally set to only terminal equipments making utterance control and whose right of utterance is recognized, the right of utterance takes over to other terminal equipment when the utterance is finished and the 2-way line set in addition is interrupted and the line is set to the other utterance terminal equipment.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multipoint communication conference system for communicating with a plurality of remote terminal groups installed at remote points via a node for multipoint communication.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 1 shows an example of a conventional multipoint video conference system. 101, 102, 103 and 104 are video conference terminals, 110 is a digital communication network, and 111 is a multi-point video conference control device. In this configuration, each of the video conference terminals 101 to 104 sets a 64 kb / s digital bidirectional line such as ISDN 2B + D with the multipoint video conference control device 111 so that the video and audio signals are mutually transmitted between the terminals. Send and receive to hold a teleconference. Here, the communication network 110 is I
It is a digital communication network such as NS net.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the configuration of the multipoint video conference control device 111. In the figure, 201, 202, 203, and 204 are line interfaces, 211, 212, 213, and 214 are video coding / decoding devices, 221, 222, 223, and 224 are audio coding / decoding devices, and 231 is video. A switching distributor, 232 is a voice addition distributor, 241 is a call control unit, and 242 is a control unit. In the configuration shown in the figure, a bidirectional digital line of 64 kb / s or the like is set between each of the terminals 101 to 104 (FIG. 1) and the line interfaces 201 to 204 based on an instruction from the call control unit 241. The video and audio signals from the video conference terminal 101 are separated by the line interface 201 and decoded by the encoding / decoding devices 211 and 221, respectively, and the video signals are output by the video switching distributor 231 based on the instruction from each terminal. The video signal is switched to one of the video signals from the video conference terminals 102 to 104, and N-1 addition is performed by the audio addition / distributing device 232 to add the sounds other than the own terminal, and the video signal is encoded / decoded again. Line interface 201 encoded at 211
And the audio signal is transmitted to the encoding / decoding unit 221.
Are encoded and transmitted to the line interface 201, multiplexed, and transmitted to the terminal 101.

Similar operations are performed for the line interfaces of the line interfaces 202 to 204. The control unit 242 controls the other terminals 10 based on the conference setting request from the terminal 101.
Instructing the call control unit 241 to make line settings from 2 to 104, changing the loss insertion amount of the voice addition and distribution unit 232 according to the number of terminals participating in this multipoint conference, and the voice addition and distribution unit 232 The speaker detection function based on the audio level monitor issues a switching instruction to the video switching distribution unit 231 to instruct the speaker screen to be displayed.

[0005]

As described above,
In the conventional multipoint videoconferencing system, a bidirectional line is always set up between each terminal and the multipoint videoconferencing control device, and audio signals are output from terminals that are not speaking or not being seen. Also, the video signal is constantly transmitted to the multi-point video conference control device, and there is a problem that the use efficiency of the transmission path is low.

[0006]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention makes it possible to efficiently use a communication network by utilizing a one-way line of a communication network such as a broadband ISDN and its distribution function. It is the one. Therefore, the purpose is to use the one-way line effectively by using the one-way line setting function in the multipoint video conference control device and controlling the allocation of the person who speaks by introducing the speech control function. To do.

[0007]

In the speech control system according to the present invention, a bidirectional line is not always set up between a terminal participating in a conference and a multipoint video conference control device, but a one-way line is set up for a person other than a person who frequently speaks. In addition to the above, the bidirectional line is additionally set only for the terminal that has the speaking control and the speaking right is recognized, and when the speaking is finished, the speaking right is transferred to another terminal and the added bidirectional line is disconnected, and The line is set to the speaking terminal.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0009]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the connection configuration with a communication network in a multipoint video conference according to the present invention, which will be described below with reference to the drawings. 300 is a multipoint video conference controller, 30
Reference numeral 1 is a digital communication network, and 302, 303, 304, and 305 are video conference terminals. Where video conferencing terminals 303 and 30
Although video and audio signals are bidirectionally transmitted and received from the multipoint video conference control device 300 to the multipoint video conference control device 300, the multipoint video conference control device 3 is used in the video conference terminals 302 and 305.
It is only receiving video and audio signals from 00. Regarding the data signal, each video conference terminal 30
A bidirectional packet line is set between 2 to 305 and the multipoint video conference control device 300, and bidirectional communication is possible as necessary.

FIG. 4 shows an example of the configuration of the multipoint video conference control device 300 according to the present invention.
, 308, 309 are line interfaces, 311, 312, 313
, 314, are video encoding / decoding devices, 321, 322, 323
, 324 are voice coding / decoding units, 331, 332, 333, 3
34 is a data transmission / reception unit, 341 is a call control unit, 342 is a control unit, 351 is a video switching distribution unit, 352 is an audio addition distribution unit, 353 is
Is a speech control unit.

In the configuration of FIG. 4, the call controller 341 is an IS
Using the layer 3 extension of the call control protocol of DN
As shown in FIG. 2, a bidirectional line is set up between the digital conference network 301 and the video conference terminals 303 and 304, and a unidirectional line is set up between the terminals 302 and 305. Line interface 306
, 309 multiplex / demultiplex to each media of video, audio and data.

Therefore, the video and audio signals from the video conference terminals 303 and 304 are separated by the line interfaces 307 and 308, and the video encoding / decoding section 312 is respectively provided.
And 313 and after being switched by the video switching / distributing unit 351, the video encoding / decoding units 311, 312, 313, 314.
Line interfaces 306, 307, 308, 309 encoded with
Then, the signal is multiplexed with other signals, transmission coded, and transmitted to each terminal.

On the other hand, the voice signals from the video conference terminals 303 and 304 are separated by the line interfaces 307 and 308, decoded by the voice coding / decoding units 322 and 323, and then added by the voice addition / distribution unit 352. Then, the added signals are subtracted from the terminals 302 and 305, and their own speech signals are subtracted from the added signals by the terminals 303 and 304 (N−
1 addition), and the voice encoding / decoding units 321, 322, 323,
Line interfaces 306, 307, 308 encoded by 324
, 309, and the data is multiplexed and transmitted to each terminal.

When the terminals 302 and 305 make utterances such as questions, the utterance request command is sent as a data signal to the multipoint video conference control device 300, and separated by the line interfaces 306 and 309. The transmission and reception units 331 and 334 terminate the protocol, and the speech control unit 353 selects either the terminal 302 or the terminal 305,
This is transmitted to the control unit 342, and the call control unit 341 sets up a one-way line for video and audio for the terminal in which the utterance is recognized. Further, this selection result is also transmitted to the voice addition unit 352, and the voice encoding / decoding unit 321 or 324 issues a voice signal addition instruction.

FIG. 5 shows a configuration example of the voice addition / distribution unit. As the voice addition method of the voice addition and distribution unit 352, N (total) addition of voices from each terminal and N-1 addition that excludes the voices from the self-terminals are performed, and the bidirectional line is set. N-1 addition is performed for the terminal, and N (full) addition is performed for the terminal to which the one-way line is set without speaking. In addition, in order to suppress an increase in voice level associated with addition, a loss corresponding to the number of additions is inserted and overload control is performed.

From the terminal for which the speech request is accepted,
The video signal of the speaker is transmitted from the camera, switched by the video switching distribution unit of the multipoint video conference control device 300, and distributed to each terminal including the speaking terminal. Note that a bidirectional video line is set for the speaker's terminal, so that the user's video can be displayed, or the video of another terminal can be switched and displayed.

FIG. 6 shows an example of line setting. FIG. 11A shows a case where both the terminals 302 and 305 make a speech request, which is indicated by a broken line. A bidirectional line (solid line) is set between the terminals 303 and 304 and the multipoint video conference control device 300, while only a one-way line is set for the terminals 302 and 305. Information is transmitted (distributed) to the terminal side. In the same figure (b), the multipoint video conference control device 300 selects the terminal 30 among the two speech requests.
5 is selected and a bidirectional line to the terminal 305 side is additionally set. It should be noted that, on the side of the terminal 305, since the original distribution line is still set, it is necessary to switch this to the newly set voice line during the speech (the newly set voice line is a multipoint). Inter-video conference controller 30
0 adds N-1).

FIG. 7 shows an example of the speech control method. In this case, even if there are a plurality of utterance request terminals, only one of them is permitted to utter. In the figure, first, it is checked whether or not the utterance of the utterance requester has ended, and if the utterance of the utterance requester continues, the right to speak is reset. Periodically check the message request command. That is, it is detected whether or not a command is received in the cycle of each monitoring period.
When the reception is detected, one of the earliest ones (in this case, the terminal 305) is selected, and at the same time when the next monitoring period starts, the call control unit 341 sets the video / audio bidirectional line to the terminal 305. Further, the voice signal of the line interface 204 added to the voice addition / distribution unit 232 is added, and the terminal 30
2 is the full addition signal and the other terminals 303, 304, 305 are N-
Distribute the 1 addition signal. Therefore, the terminal 305 needs to switch the voice signal from the already set one-way line to the newly set line.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the speech control unit 353. Reference numeral 361 is a speaking right granting unit, and 362 is a monitoring period counter. Counter 362 for monitoring period for a plurality of speech requests
Periodically checks the presence / absence of a request, sends a speech enable signal to the data transmitter / receiver 334 together with confirmation of the speech end state, and newly sets the line to the speech terminal 305 and switches the video to the call controller 341. The controller 342 is instructed to instruct the distributor 351 and the voice addition / distribution unit 352 to add the line setting.

FIG. 9 shows an example of speech control. Terminal
Since there is a request for speech from 304 and no request for speech from other terminals, a speech enable signal is responded immediately after the end of the monitoring period, and speech starts after line setting.
Even if 305 requests to speak, it is rejected. In addition, terminal 30
When the statement of 4 is completed and the statement request is made again from the terminal 305, the statement of the terminal 301 becomes possible.

In the above explanation, although there is a plurality of utterance requesting terminals, only one utterance is permitted.
The control method shown in Fig. 10 is expanded to more than the number of units. First, it checks the number of terminals that have the right to speak, detects a speech request, and if this is within the allowable number, sets the line for this speech request terminal and instructs the video switching distributor and audio addition distributor to increase the number of terminals. To do.

FIG. 11 shows an example of utterance control when up to two speakers can be uttered. First, when a utterance request is issued from the terminal 305, utterance permission is given to this, and an instruction for additional line setting is given. At the same time, the video / audio processing part is instructed. Further, since the speech request from the terminal 304 is within the allowable range, the speech is permitted and the additional setting of the line and the video / audio processing are similarly performed. On the other hand, when the utterance ends, the added line is disconnected, the video / audio processing unit is instructed to return to the original state, and the utterance request from the other is accepted.

[0023]

As described above, the number of people who frequently speak is limited to a few people in a normal conference, and the majority of the people are listeners in many cases. It is possible to effectively use the line in the direction, reduce the cost, and improve the utilization efficiency of the communication network. Further, according to the speech control of the present invention,
Since it is possible to limit the number of voice additions to the minimum,
It is possible to suppress the deterioration of voice quality due to addition,
It becomes possible for a large number of terminals to participate in this communication conference.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 illustrates a configuration example of a conventional multi-point video conference.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration example of a conventional multipoint communication control device.

FIG. 3 shows a configuration example of a video conference between multiple points according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a configuration example of a multi-point video conference control device according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a configuration example of a voice addition / distribution unit.

FIG. 6 shows an example of line setting, (a) shows a case where both two terminals make a speech request, and (b) selects one of the two speech requests. This is the case when a bidirectional line is additionally set on that side.

FIG. 7 shows an example of the utterance control method of the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a speech control circuit of the present invention.

FIG. 9 shows an example of speech control.

FIG. 10 shows speech control when the speech terminal of the present invention is expanded to two.

FIG. 11 shows an example of utterance control when up to two speakers can speak.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 Video conference terminal 102 Video conference terminal 103 Video conference terminal 104 Video conference terminal 110 Digital communication network 111 Multipoint video conference control device 201 Line interface 202 Line interface 203 Line interface 204 Line interface 211 Video encoding / decoding device 212 Video Coding / decoding device 213 Video coding / decoding device 214 Video coding / decoding device 221 Voice coding / decoding device 222 Voice coding / decoding device 223 Voice coding / decoding device 224 Voice coding Decoding device 231 Video switching distribution unit 232 Audio addition and distribution unit 241 Call control unit 242 Control unit 300 Multipoint video conference control device 301 Digital communication network 302 Video conference terminal 303 Video conference terminal 304 Video conference terminal 305 Video conference terminal 306 Line interface 307 Line interface 308 Line interface 309 Line interface 311 Video coding / decoding section 312 Video coding / decoding section 313 Video coding / decoding section 314 Video coding / decoding section 321 Speech coding / decoding section 322 Speech coding / decoding section 323 Speech coding Encoding / decoding section 324 Speech encoding / decoding section 331 Data transmission / reception section 332 Data transmission / reception section 333 Data transmission / reception section 334 Data transmission / reception section 341 Call control section 342 Control section 351 Video switching distribution section 352 Voice addition / distribution section 353 Speech control section 361 Speaking right granting unit 362 Monitoring period counter

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Tsunehisa Saito 1-chome, 3-chome, Asahigaoka, Hino-shi, Tokyo Inside the Toshiba Hino Plant, a company of formula company (72) Inventor, Michiichi Nakamura 3-chome, Asahigaoka, Hino-shi, Tokyo 1 Toshiba Corporation Hino factory inside

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A multimedia line including a plurality of video, audio and data is set between a plurality of video conference terminal groups and a processing device for multipoint communication conference, and the video conference terminal group and the multipoint communication are set. Between multipoints for switching and distributing the video signal from the camera of one of the video conference terminal groups among the conference processing devices, and adding and distributing the audio signal from the microphone of the video conference terminal In the communication conference method, means for setting a unidirectional and bidirectional line between the terminal group and the multipoint communication conference processing device, and all audio signals of the terminal group in the multipoint communication conference processing device. Addition and distribution means for adding and distributing, N-1 addition and distribution means for adding and distributing sounds other than the own terminal, means for transmitting a request to speak when wanting to speak from the terminal group, detecting the speech request, and One or more Remark control means for notifying permission / inhibition of selected and talk request to the terminal, means for call set bidirectional line with respect to the terminal that has selected, voice addition distribution means audio the terminal selected and the N
-1 means for notifying and adding to the adding / distributing means, means for receiving a utterance end notice at the end of the utterance, controlling the call so as to disconnect the added bidirectional line and returning to the original line setting, and the utterance A speech control apparatus comprising: a means for switching a video signal of a terminal or one video signal of the video conference terminal group and distributing the video signal to the terminal group.