JPH06261315A - Multi-spot video conference controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate the increase of the processing of a multi-spot video conference controller positioned midway and the addition of transmission delay by a transfer processing when an MLP signal from the multi-spot television conference controller of a master is transmitted to a television conference at the end and vice versa. CONSTITUTION:An MLP signal communication control part 90 is provided with MLP signal exchange circuits 51-5N. The circuits select arbitrary reception MLP signals A1-AN by setting from a system control part 80 and they can directly transfer transmission MLP signals B1-BN. Thus, the MLP signal communication control part 90 is provided with a function for directly transferring the MLP signals by following a route which is previously set without analyzing the content. The MLP signal communication control part 90 is provided with a function for monitoring the transferred MLP signal inserting of its own MLP signal when it is detected that an MLP channel is not used.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multi-point video conference control device, and more particularly, to any one of star-connected video conference terminals and another video conference terminal or a master multi-point video conference control connected in cascade. The present invention relates to a multipoint video conference control device having a function of mutually communicating control information with a device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a conventional multi-point video conference control device 11, which is a multi-point video conference control device cascade-connected to the number of connected video conference terminals 21 to 2N. (Master) MLP signal receiving circuits 31 to 3N (denoted as MLP Rx in the figure) corresponding to the number of 1M ports, and MLP signal transmitting circuit 41.
~ 4N (MLP Tx in the figure), each ML
The P signal receiving circuit and the MLP signal transmitting circuit are provided between one corresponding video conference terminal and another corresponding video conference terminal, or
One video conference terminal and the master multipoint video conference control device 1M are configured to perform one-to-one communication.
Note that 61 to 6N are MUX / DEMUX units, 71 to 7N are network interfaces, 80 is a system control unit, and A1 to AN.
Indicates a received MLP signal, B1 to BN indicate transmitted MLP signals, and C indicates an internal data bus of the apparatus. The MLP signal receiving circuits 31 to 3N, the LP signal transmitting circuits 41 to 4N, the system control unit 80, and the system control unit 80 collectively configure an MLP signal communication control unit 91.

[0003]

In this conventional multipoint video conference control device, as shown in FIG. 3, cascade connection of two or more stages is performed in a hierarchy connection form (hierarchical connection form), and the master multipoint is connected. The video conference terminals 21 and 2 at the end of the MLP signal from the video conference control device 1M
4 or, conversely, when transmitting the MLP signal from the video conference terminal at the end to the master multi-point video conference control device, the multi-point video conference control device 11 located in the middle. , 12, the MLP signal from the master multipoint video conference controller 1M (or,
2, the MLP signal receiving circuit 31 or 32 once receives the MLP signal from the video conference terminal at the end, and the system control unit 80 analyzes the received signal, and then the MLP signal transmitting circuit 42 or 41 is used. , Terminal video conference terminal 2
1 (or master multipoint video conference control device 1
Since it has to be sent to M), the processing of the multipoint video conference control devices 11 and 12 located in the middle is complicated, and the transmission delay due to the transfer processing is large. The same applies to the MLP signal transmission between the video conference terminals 11 and 12.

In view of the above-mentioned drawbacks, the present invention is intended to provide a multipoint video conference control apparatus which simplifies the information transfer process and has a small transmission delay.

[0005]

According to the present invention, an image,
A video conference terminal having voice and data media is connected in a star shape, and one of the video conference terminals and another video conference terminal is controlled by an MLP signal communication control unit including an MLP signal receiving circuit and an MLP signal transmitting circuit. Alternatively, multipoint videoconference control for performing video signal exchange control, audio signal addition processing, data signal distribution control, and end-to-end control information (MLP signal) communication control with the master multipoint videoconference control device. In the apparatus, the MLP signal communication control unit follows the preset MLP signal communication control unit without analyzing the contents of the MLP signal from the video conference terminal or the master multipoint video conference control device. Alternatively, an MLP signal exchange having a function of directly transferring to each of the other video conference terminals. Multipoint video conference control device is obtained, characterized in that it comprises means.

[0006]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the embodiment of the present invention. The multipoint video conference control device of the present invention includes an MLP signal receiving circuit 31 corresponding to the number of ports of the connected video conference terminals 21 to 2N and the number of ports of the cascaded multi-point video conference control device (master) 1M.
~ 3N (indicated as MLP Rx in the figure) and ML
P signal transmission circuits 41 to 4N (MLP Tx in the figure),
An MLP signal exchange circuit (MLP Tx in the figure) 51 for directly transferring the received MLP signal as a transmission MLP signal.
To 5N, each of the MLP signal receiving circuit, the MLP signal transmitting circuit, and the MLP signal exchanging circuit is provided between one of the corresponding one of the video conference terminals 21 to 22 and the master multipoint video conference control device 1M. Or, one-to-one communication is performed between one video conference terminal and another video conference terminal. 61 to 6N, 7
1 to 7N and 80 are a UX / DEMUX unit, a network interface unit, and a system control unit, respectively, as in the conventional device, and A1 to AN and B1 to B.
N and C respectively indicate a received MLP signal, a transmitted MLP signal, and a device internal data bus. Also ML
P signal receiving circuits 31 to 3N, MLP signal transmitting circuits 41 to
The 4N, the MLP signal exchange circuits 51 to 5N, and the system control unit 80 are integrated into the MLP signal communication control unit 90.
Make up.

An example of the operation of the above apparatus will be described below with reference to FIG.
The case where the cascade connection is performed in the high-alard connection mode as shown in FIG. The video conference terminal 21 from the multipoint video conference control device 1M connected in cascade.
Signals to the MUX /
The MLP signal received by the DEMUX unit 61 is separated. The separated MLP signal is received by the MLP signal receiving circuit 31 as a received MLP signal A1, and at the same time, ML is received.
It is sent to the P signal exchange circuit 52. The signal sent to the MLP signal receiving circuit 31 is for this multipoint video conference control device 10 itself.

The MLP signal exchange circuit 52 includes a MUX circuit 52a for selecting an arbitrary received MLP signal and multiplexing it in a wired-OR format according to the setting from the system control unit 80 according to the network configuration and the operation mode of the conference. In this case, the received MLP signal A1 sent in this case is selected, the AND circuit 52b takes the logical product with the MLP signal from the MLP signal transmission circuit 42, and transfers this to the transmission MLP signal B2, It can be directly transferred to the video conference terminal 21 via the MUX / DEMUX unit 62 and the interface unit 72.

Conversely, from the video conference terminal 21 to the MLP
When transferring the signal to the master multipoint video conference control device 1M, the network interface unit 72, MUX / DEMU
The received MLP signal A2 is received via the X unit 62, and ML is received.
In response to this setting, the P signal exchange circuit 51 causes the MUX circuit 5 to
1b multiplexes the received MLP signal A2 in a wired OR format, and this output signal is ANDed with the MLP signal output from the LP signal transmission circuit 41 in the AND circuit 51b,
This is output as the transmission MLP signal B1, and the MUX / DE is output.
It is transferred to the multipoint video conference control device 1M via the MUX unit 62 and the network interface unit 72. In the case of such transfer, there is a possibility that some of the received MLP signals A1 to AN from the plurality of video conference terminals 22 to 2N are received at the same time and data collides at the time of multiplexing. The point video conference control device 1M or the multi-point video conference control device 10 to which the video conference terminal is locally connected avoids by controlling the transmission timing of the MLP signal of the video conference terminal by the route of the backward MLP signal. it can.

Similarly, the MLP signal can be directly transferred between the video conference terminals. That is, for example, when only the route when transferring from the video conference terminal 21 to the video conference terminal 2N is shown, the network interface unit 72, the MUX / DEMUX unit 62, the reception ML from the video conference terminal 21.
It is transferred to the video conference terminal 2N via the P signal A2, the MLP signal exchange circuit 5N, the transmission MLP signal BN, the MUX / DEMUX unit 6N, and the network interface unit 7N. The same applies to the opposite case.

Further, the MLP signal transmission circuits 41 to 4N are
The MLP signal output by itself and the transmission MLP signals B1 through BN output by the MLP signal exchange circuits 51 through 5N are constantly compared and determined to control data transmission. That is, normally, when data is not transmitted, idle data (ALL “1” data) is transmitted, and when data is communicated, the MLP channel is not used (transmission output by the MLP signal exchange circuit). After determining that the MLP signal is idle data, the transmission is started. Further, during the data transmission, the own data and the data to be transferred collide with each other, and the MLP signal output by the own device and the MLP signal
When the outputs B1 to BN of the LP signal exchange circuits 51 to 5N do not match, the operation of immediately stopping the transmission of data and making the transmission data idle data is performed.

As described above, the MLP signal exchange circuit 5
1 to 5N and the MLP signal transmission circuits 41 to 4N
The signals are multiplexed without collision and the transmitted MLP signal B
1 to BN are created.

The transmitted MLP signals B1 to BN are MUX / D.
The signals are multiplexed by the EMUX units 61 to 6N and transmitted to the video conference terminal or the cascade-connected multipoint video conference control device via the network interface units 71 to 7N.

In the present invention, the MLP signal switching circuits 51-5N
Can transfer any received MLP signal to a transmitted MLP signal, and if this function is not used, the circuit configuration is exactly the same as the conventional example.

[0015]

As described above, the MLP signal communication control unit 91 of the multipoint video conference control apparatus according to the present invention is
Since it has a function of directly transferring the MLP signal along a preset path without analyzing the contents of the LP signal, as shown in FIG.
When the MLP signal from the master multipoint video conference control device is transmitted to the end video conference terminal by performing cascade connection of more than two stages, and conversely, the MLP signal from the end video conference terminal is transmitted to the master multi point TV. Also when transmitting to the conference control device, there is an effect that the processing of the multipoint video conference control device located in the middle is not increased and the transmission delay is not added by the transfer process.

Further, by utilizing this effect, the multipoint video conference control device communicates with the video conference terminal at the end or the multi-point video conference control device cascade-connected by the polling method, or conversely, at the end. Video conferencing terminals and cascaded multipoint video conferencing control devices
It is possible to communicate with the multipoint video conference control device by the passing system, which has the effect of simplifying the communication of control information.

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a conventional multipoint video conference control device.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a cascade connection of multipoint video conference control devices in a hierarchical connection form.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1M multipoint video conference control device (master) 10,11 multipoint video conference control device (slave) 21-2N video conference terminal 31-3N MLP Rx (MLP signal receiving circuit) 41-4N MLP Tx (MLP signal transmitting circuit) 51-5N MLP Ex (MLP signal exchange circuit) 51a-5Na MUX (MUX circuit) 51b-5Nb AND circuit 61-6N MUX / DEMUX section 71-7N Network interface section 80 System control section 90, 91 MLP signal communication control section A1 To AN received MLP signal B1 to BN sent MLP signal C internal data bus

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A video conference terminal having video, audio, and data media is connected in a star shape, and one of the video conference terminals is controlled by an MLP signal communication control unit including an MLP signal receiving circuit and an MLP signal transmitting circuit. Video signal exchange control, audio signal addition processing, data signal distribution control, and end-to-end control information (MLP signal) communication control between one and another video conference terminal or a master multipoint video conference control device. In the multipoint video conference control device for performing the above, the MLP signal communication control unit controls the ML from the video conference terminal or the master multipoint video conference control device.
An MLP signal exchange circuit having a function of directly transferring the P signal to the master MLP signal communication control unit or the other video conference terminal according to a preset route without analyzing the contents thereof is provided. Multipoint video conference control device. 2. The MLP signal communication control unit has a function of monitoring the directly transferred MLP signal and inserting an MLP signal generated by itself when detecting that the MLP channel is not used. The multipoint video conference control device according to claim 1.