JPH06311510A - Conference supporting system for remote location - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To support smooth communication of participants in brain storming or the like such as conference between remote positions and especially presentation at a site of the communication opposite party. CONSTITUTION:A large sized display device 112 is provided with a common screen 200 for a site of a communication opposite party, a video display screen 500 for image pickup of a forescene of a participant picked up from the front side of the site of the communication opposite party, and a video display screen 510 for displaying a video image of the entire scene of the conference including a presentator picked up from the back side and an operation display form by which the operation of another party is easily understood is adopted for the common screen. Thus, a participant has the common screen into which write is enable at any time and both entire scenes of the conference and the foregrounds of the opposite party are grasped and a sense of incongruity of a narrow visual field is realized.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a teleconferencing system using a large-screen display device, and a conference between remote places that creates a creative thing from the communication with another person, and in particular, to a communication partner. It is related to a support system for remote conferences such as brainstorming where presentations are made on the site.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A video conferencing system allows a user to hold a meeting while looking at each other's faces even in a remote place, which saves money in terms of business travel expenses and in terms of time. There is an advantage that it can be reduced. Regarding such a video conference system, CSCW (Computer S
Upported Cooperative Work) and human interface fields.

[Discussion on problems and uses of video conference technology] described in the 8th Human Interface Symposium Proceedings, pp.207-212 (1992) (Reference 1)
Then, by actually using the video conference system to extract some problems and enabling the camera to be controlled from the remote partner's site, the remote partner's site can be displayed on a limited screen. We are trying to eliminate the uncomfortable feeling of narrowing the visual field when doing.

Also, "Network Proxemics and Group Media" described in Proceedings of the 8th Human Interface Symposium, pp.661-668 (1992).
In (Reference 2), from the viewpoint of an electronic network, there are problems regarding communication in a video conference system, such as the absence of locality of discussions in a video conference,
It points out the lack of communication of characters as a means of capturing discussions, and the lack of functions for organizing and integrating discussions.

Furthermore, as an attempt to make it easier to understand the expression and behavior of the communication partner, the technical report of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, OFS 92-18, pp.9-14 (1992)
"Cooperative work environment using human image tracking technology"
(Reference 3) proposes a method of displaying two types of images, which are a front view including the background and a close-up view in which the vicinity of the face is captured, which are captured from the front of the communication partner.

[0006] Proceedings of AC M Sigchi Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (Procee
dingsof ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in
Computing Systems (CHI'92), pp.525-532 (1992), "ClearBoard: A SeamlessMedium for Shared D
In "rawing and Conversation with Eye Contact" (Reference 4)), the screen is shared between remote places without any discomfort, so it is displayed on the other side of the transparent board as if there is a communication partner, and on that board. On the other hand, it adopts a method that enables writing with the communication partner.

[0007]

The above-mentioned prior art is a research on how to handle a video image taken from the front side of a communication partner, how to operate a shared screen with the communication partner, and how to show it. . In addition, when sharing the screen, 1
It is intended for person-to-person communication, and it is not assumed that a presentation will be made at the site of the communication partner such as brainstorming between remote places.

When brainstorming is performed between remote places, a plurality of persons communicate with each other. Therefore, in the above-mentioned conventional example, there is a problem that it is impossible to grasp what operation is performed by another person. Also, at the site where the presentation is being made, the presenter is present in front of the participants, so it is not possible to take a full view of the conference including the presenter from the front of the site.
Further, in brainstorming, discussions are exchanged more actively than in a normal conference, so that communication of characters as a catch of the exchanged discussions becomes more important between remote places.

In addition, in the current video conference system, the sound field is simply formed by the microphone and the speaker, and the image and the sound are not necessarily linked to each other, so that the sound is displayed on the screen. The direction may not match,
There is a problem that a sense of discomfort occurs.

An object of the present invention is to reduce the discomfort of visual field constriction, display the state of the presentation at the site of the communication partner, and create a creative thing from the communication with another person. This is to support the smooth communication of the participants in the conference, especially in the brainstorming where the presentation is made on the other party's site.

[0011]

In order to achieve the above object, a remote area brainstorming support system of the present invention comprises: (1) a large screen display device, a shared screen with a site of a communication partner, and a communication partner. The site is provided with a video display screen for displaying a video of the near view of the participant captured from the front of the site and a video of the entire view of the conference captured from the rear.

(2) In the remote area brainstorming support system described in (1) above, a material presentation area for presenting material submitted by the presenter in the shared screen on the large screen display device. It is characterized by including.

(3) In the remote area brainstorming support system described in (1) above, each participant discriminates the material submitted by the presenter in the shared screen on the large screen display device. It is characterized by having a reduced material display area for reducing display at a possible resolution.

(4) In the remote area brainstorming support system described in (3) above, when the material displayed in the material reduced display area in the shared screen is designated by a pointing device, the corresponding material is displayed. Is displayed while gradually expanding in the material presentation area.

Further, (5) above (2), or
In the remote brainstorming support system according to any one of (4), a plurality of participants can write on the material displayed in the material presentation area in the shared screen with a pointing device. And

(6) In the remote brainstorming support system described in (5) above, what is written by the participant in the material displayed in the material presentation area is written as the material. And a material storage area for reducing and displaying and storing.

(7) In the remote area brainstorming support system described in (6) above, the large screen display device is provided with a function for retrieving the material stored in the material storage area. It is characterized by

(8) In the remote area brainstorming support system described in (1) above, the video and audio of the site of the communication partner displayed on the video display screen are displayed at the video display position and the sound source is localized. It is characterized by comprising a device for forming a sound field for matching with each other without causing a sense of discomfort.

[0019]

According to the present invention, on the large screen display device, the shared screen with the site of the communication partner, the image of the near view of the participant photographed from the front of the other party's site, and the whole view of the conference photographed from the rear are displayed. By providing a video display screen that displays the video and the same screen, it is possible to share the same screen and to grasp both the full view of the meeting and the near view of the other party, so even if you are in a remote place, the sense of discomfort in the visual field constriction It is possible to proceed with a conference between remote areas without feeling much.

In the shared screen on the large screen display device,
By providing the material presentation area for presenting the material submitted by the presenter, the participants do not have to deviate their gaze from the large screen display device to see the material at hand.

In the shared screen on the large screen display device,
By providing a material reduction display area for reducing the material submitted by the presenter at a resolution that can be discriminated by each participant, participants can predict the agenda from the content of the material reduced in advance. Become.

Further, when the material displayed in the material reduced display area in the shared screen is designated by the pointing device, the corresponding material is gradually enlarged and displayed in the material presentation area, thereby making it difficult to enter a command. To make the operation easy and to allow other participants to easily understand the meaning of the operation.

Further, by making it possible for a plurality of participants to write on the material displayed in the material presentation area in the shared screen with a pointing device, the correlation with related matters becomes clear, and anyone can It is possible to easily write down important matters on the spot.

It is also important to provide a material storage area for storing the material displayed in the material presentation area written by the participant in a reduced size by combining the material and the content. Items can be saved easily.

Further, by providing a function for retrieving the material stored in the material storage area on the large screen display device, when the topic of the meeting goes back in the past, the material corresponding to it can be easily retrieved. It will be possible.

Then, the apparatus is provided with a device for forming a sound field for making the image and sound of the other party's site displayed on the image display screen correspond to the image display position and the sound source localization without any discomfort. As a result, it is possible to produce a more realistic meeting by synchronizing the image and sound.

[0027]

1 and 2 are block diagrams of the equipment of an embodiment of the remote brainstorming support system of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a connection relationship between devices at two sites for communication. 100, 101
Are sites connected by communication lines and have a meeting together, 110 and 111 are sites 100 and 1 respectively.
A high-definition television camera for shooting the image 01, 112 and 113 are a site 100 and a site 101, respectively.
The large-screen display devices 114, 115 installed in the computer are the images generated by the workstations 126, 127, respectively.
On the other hand, the image synthesizing devices 116 and 117 for synthesizing the images captured by the high-definition cameras 115 and 114 sent from the sites 100 and 101 are the sites 100 and 10, respectively.
NTSC camera, 118, 1 for shooting 1 image
Reference numeral 19 is a VCR for playing / displaying the video submitted as material, 120 and 121 are images of the NTSC camera 116 and VCR 118, and NTSC, respectively.
An image switching device capable of switching the image of the camera 117 and the image of the VCR 119 by a control signal from the workstations 126 and 127. 122 and 123 are privileged pen tablets as pointing devices capable of performing special operations. 124 and 125. Is a pen tablet as a pointing device that allows normal operations. 128 and 129 are sites 100 and 101, respectively
Microphones for obtaining the sound of the site, 130, 131 are speakers for forming the sound field of the sites 100, 101, 13
2,133 are microphones 13 at sites 100 and 101.
0 is a sound field control device for controlling the speaker 132 and the microphone 131 and the speaker 133.

Reference numeral 126 denotes a work station, which is connected to the video switching device 1 via the work station 127.
The control signal is sent to the video signal 21, and either the NTSC camera 117 or the video signal of the video deck 119 is selected, the video signal is taken in, and the video is output to the video synthesizing device 114 together with the generated graphic video. Also, the privileged pen tablet 122 and the pen tablet 1
The input from 24 is accepted and reflected in the video output. Furthermore, the voice information from the microphone 128 obtained from the sound field control device 132 is interpreted and sent to the workstation 127,
The information received from the workstation 127 is sent to the sound field control device 132 to form a sound field using the speaker 130. However, the HDTV cameras 110 and 111 are not limited to one in the sites 100 and 101. Similarly, NTSC cameras 116 and 117, privileged pen tablets 122 and 123, and pen tablets 12
4,125, microphones 128,129, speakers 130,
131 is not limited to one, either.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the construction of a workstation installed at each site. In the figure, the workstation 126 side is shown, but the workstation 1
27 has the same configuration.

In FIG. 2, 140 is a central processing unit, 1
50 is a video input / output device, 170 is a main storage device, 180 is a keyboard, and 190 is an auxiliary storage device for storing the processing program and data of the present invention.

The video input / output device 150 is, for example, a video capture board D4 manufactured by Silicone Graphics.
Like VLAB, it outputs a combination of a video output generated by the central processing unit 140 and a video input from the outside.

The main storage device 170 has a submitted material storage area 171 for storing the material submitted by the presenter and a stored material storage area 172 for storing the material written by the participants. The auxiliary storage device 190 stores a program storage area 191 for storing programs describing various processing procedures, a submitted material storage area 192 for storing materials submitted by the presenter, and materials written by the participants. Storage area 1 for storing data
Has 93.

With such a configuration, the remote location brainstorming support system according to the present embodiment is used in the site 10.
0, 101 are connected by a communication line, and a large screen display device 112,
On the 113, a shared screen writable by all the participants of the conference and a video display screen for displaying the whole view of the conference taken from behind the site of the communication partner and the near view taken from the front are provided. Based on the processing programs loaded from the program storage area 191 of the auxiliary storage device 190 into the main storage device 170, the privileged pen tablets 122 and 123 and the pen tablets 124 and 125.
Is analyzed, the material submitted by the presenter is loaded from the submitted material storage area 192 to the submitted material storage area 171, and saved from the saved material storage area 172 to the saved material storage area 193. Further, writing by the participants using the privileged pen tablets 122 and 123 and the pen tablets 124 and 125 to the material submitted to the shared area is controlled. At that time, as will be described later, the large screen display device 1 is operated and displayed in a manner that makes it easy to understand the operation of another person.
By displaying it on 12, 113, it is possible to reduce the discomfort of the visual field constriction, display the state of the presentation on the site of the communication partner, and the lack of transmission of the characters to capture the discussion. Participants in remote conferences that eliminate the lack of the ability to organize and integrate and create creative things from communication with others, especially brainstorming where presentations are made on the site of the other party Support smooth communication.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a shared screen of two different sites displayed on the large screen display device. In FIG. 3, 200 is a shared screen shared by the sites 100 and 101 displayed on the large screen display devices 112 and 113, and 211 to 215 are privileged by changing or changing the color of the pen for writing in the material presentation area 220. Cursor 330,
Also, a pen color change area 216 for returning the pen cursor 331 to the original shape, a privileged cursor 33 for deleting the writing from the participant to the material presentation area 220.
0 and an eraser area for deforming the pen cursor 331, 220 is a material presentation area for enlarging and displaying the material displayed in the material reduced display areas 231 to 242, and 231 to 242 are materials presented by the presenter. A material reduction display area for reducing the display at a resolution that can be discriminated by participants, 25
Numerals 1 and 252 are scroll buttons for scrolling and changing what is reduced and displayed in the material storage areas 253 to 257. Numerals 253 to 257 are privileged pen tablets 122 and 123 or pens from participants in the material presentation area 220. A material storage area for reducing and displaying the material written by the tablets 124 and 125,
Reference numeral 260 denotes a save button for saving the material written by the participant in the material presentation area 220 in the material storage areas 253-257. However, the pen color change area 21
Numbers 1 to 215 are reduced to 5, and material reduction display areas 231 to 242
Is not limited to 12 and the material storage areas 253 to 257 are not limited to 5, respectively.

Shared screen 200 on large screen display device 112
By providing the material presentation area 220 for presenting the material submitted by the presenter, the participant does not need to turn his / her line of sight from the large screen display device 112 to see the material at hand, so that the participant can concentrate on the matter. be able to.

Further, the reduced material display areas 231 to 242 are provided, and the material submitted by the presenter is reduced and displayed at a resolution that can be discriminated by each participant. From the contents of, it is possible to predict the proceedings that will occur in the future.

Further, the materials displayed in the material reduction display areas 231 to 242 are displayed on the privileged pen tablets 122, 12
When specified in 3, the corresponding material is displayed in the material presentation area 220.
By gradually enlarging and displaying it, the troublesomeness of typing commands is eliminated and the operation is easy, and
Make it easier for other participants to understand the operation.

For the material displayed in the material presentation area 220, a plurality of participants have privileged pen tablets 122, 123 or the pen tablet 12 on the material.
Make it writable using 4,125 so that anyone can easily write it down on the spot. By this function,
It is possible to write down important matters as if they were memos, and since it is written directly on the material, the correlation between the writing and the material becomes clear. What's more, in the past, you had to stand up and write on a whiteboard to supplement your opinion, but you can feel free to do it while sitting.

By providing the material storage areas 253 to 257 in which the materials written by the participants in the material presentation area 220 are displayed in a reduced size and stored together, the important matters can be easily stored. Becomes

When the materials written in the material storage areas 253 to 257 are reduced and stored, scroll buttons 251 and 252 for searching the materials are provided to save the material when the topic of the meeting goes back in the past. It will be possible to easily search for the corresponding material from among the listed materials.

FIG. 4, FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 are flow charts showing an embodiment of the processing procedure of the present invention. In this embodiment,
The processing in the workstation 126 will be mainly described.

In FIG. 4, when the remote area brainstorming support system is activated (step 300), the materials submitted by the presenter and stored in the submitted material storage area 192 are loaded into the submitted material storage area 171. (Step 310), material reduction display area 231 ...
242. Next, an input process with an external device (step 320) and an output process (step 330) are performed. Depending on the end determination (step 340), it is determined whether to end (step 360) or continue the process.
When ending, immediately before that, the material storage area 253-2
The material displayed in 57 and written by the participant stored in the stored material storage area 172 is saved in the stored material storage area 193 (step 350).

In FIG. 5, input processing 3 from an external device
When 20 is activated (step 321), the inputs of the privileged pen tablet 122 and the pen tablet 124 are interpreted, and it is determined whether the writing is to the material presentation area 220 or the pen color is changed, and the input processing is performed. , And a video reflecting that is generated (step 322). Similarly, whether the input from the workstation 127 of the other party's site 101 is from the privileged pen tablet 123 or the pen tablet 125, or the workstation 127 is from the information from the sound field control device 133. It is determined whether the extracted sound field information is for the site 101, and a corresponding image is generated or the sound field information is interpreted (step 323). Next, the video switching device 12
The video from No. 1 is input and reflected on the video output of the workstation 126 (step 324). Furthermore, microphone 1
The voice information acquired at 28 is input via the sound field control device 132, and the sound field information of the site 100 is extracted (step 325).

In FIG. 6, output processing 33 to the external device
When 0 is activated (step 331), step 322,
And the privileged pen tablets 122 and 123 generated in 323 and the pen tablets 124 and 1
The image reflecting the operation of 25 and the image input in step 324 are combined and output to the image combining device 114 as an image from the workstation 126 (step 332). Next, the workstation 12 receives the information about the privileged pen tablet 122 and the pen tablet 124 that have been input in step 322, and the sound field information about the site 100 extracted in step 325.
It outputs to 7 (step 333). Further, according to the interpretation of the input from the workstation 127 in step 323, a control signal is output to the video switching device 120 to switch the video input to the workstation 127 (step 334). The sound field information of the site 101 interpreted in step 323 is output to the sound field control device 132, and the sound field of the site 101 is formed by the speaker 130 (step 335).

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of one site for explaining an embodiment of the remote area brainstorming support system. Here, the site is referred to as the site 100.

In FIG. 7, reference numeral 400 denotes a video display screen which displays the entire view of the other site 101.
Is a video display screen displaying a close view of participants of the site 101, 420 is a privileged pen tablet 122, a conference desk in which the pen tablet 124 is installed, 430 is a privileged cursor linked to the operation of the privileged pen tablet 122, Reference numeral 431 is a pen cursor that is linked to the operation of the pen tablet 124.

On the large screen display device 112, the shared screen 200 with the site 101 of the communication partner and the image display screen 41 showing the close view of the participant photographed from the front of the site 101 are displayed.
0 and a video display screen 400 for displaying a video of the entire view of the conference captured from the rear, the same screen can be shared and both the full view of the conference and the near view of the other party can be grasped, so that the remote location can be achieved. In spite of the presence, it is possible to proceed with a conference between remote places without feeling a sense of discomfort due to narrowing of the visual field.

The video and audio displayed on the video display screens 400 and 410 are transferred to the microphone 128, speaker 130, and
Also, by using the sound field control device 132 to match the display position of the image and the localization of the sound source, it is possible to correspond without any discomfort and to produce a more realistic meeting.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of one site for explaining another embodiment of the remote brainstorming support system. Similar to FIG. 7, the site is set to 100.

In FIG. 8, 500 and 510 are video display screens, 520, 521, 522, 530, 531 and 53.
Reference numeral 2 is an image switching button. However, video switching buttons 520, 521, 522, 530, 531 and 532
Is not limited to six.

Video switching buttons 520, 521, 52
By pressing one of the two, the image displayed on the image display screen 500 is the full view of the site 101 of the communication partner, or the close view of the participants, or
It should be a video submitted as material or selectable. Similarly, the image switching buttons 530, 531
By pressing 532, the video displayed on the video display screen 510 can be selected.

9 to 12 are operation explanatory views of a shared screen of two different sites.

FIG. 9 is an operation explanatory diagram of the material reduction display area. When the material displayed in the material reduction display area 234 is designated by the privileged cursor 430 which is linked with the operation of the privileged pen tablets 122 and 123, the corresponding material is displayed in the material presentation area 220 while gradually expanding. To do. By intentionally delaying the reaction of the operation in this way, other participants can easily understand the meaning of the operation.

FIG. 10 is an operation explanatory diagram of the material presentation area.

In FIG. 10, 600 and 610 are written by the participants. Privileged pen tablet 12
Privileged cursor 430 linked to 2,123 operation
Alternatively, or with the pen cursor 431 that is interlocked with the operation of the pen tablets 124 and 125, writing such as writing 600 and 610 can be performed on the material displayed in the operation presentation area 220 at any time.

As described above, by making it possible for a plurality of participants to write on the material displayed in the material presentation area 220 by using the privileged pen tablets 122 and 123 and the pen tablets 124 and 125 which are pointing devices. , The correlation with related matters becomes clear,
Also, anyone can easily write down important matters on the spot.

Since a large number of privileged cursors 430 and pen cursors 431 are displayed on the shared screen 200,
These colors can be easily identified by designating the pen color change areas 211 to 215.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of the operation of the save button. When the save button 260 is pressed with the privileged cursor 430 linked with the operation of the privileged pen tablets 122 and 123, the writing 600 and 610 are also saved together with the material displayed in the material presentation area 220 at that time. At this time, the material saving area 25 should be added to the material saving areas 253-255 which are already reduced and displayed.
Save to 6. If there is no area to be reduced and displayed, the material displayed in the material storage areas 253-256 is scrolled to the left to save the area.

In this way, the privileged pen tablet 12
By pressing the save button 260 with the privileged cursor 430 linked with the operation of 2,123, it becomes possible to easily save the material in which the important matters are written.

FIG. 12 is an operation explanatory diagram of the scroll buttons and the material storage area.

By pressing the scroll buttons 251 and 252 with the privileged cursors 430 linked with the operation of the privileged pen tablets 122 and 123, the intended material is displayed in the material storage areas 253 to 267. Set the relevant material storage area 256 to the privileged pen tablet 12
By designating with the privileged cursor 430 linked with the operations of 2,123, the corresponding saved material is gradually expanded and displayed in the material presentation area 220.

[0063]

According to the present invention, on a large screen display device,
By providing a shared screen with the site of the communication partner, a video image of the near view of the participant captured from the front of the site of the communication partner, and a video display screen that displays a video of the entire view of the conference captured from the rear Share the same screen, and
Since it is possible to grasp both the entire view of the conference and the near view of the other party, it is possible to proceed with the conference between remote places without feeling a sense of discomfort due to the narrowing of the visual field even if the user is in a remote place.

In the shared screen on the large screen display device,
By providing the material presentation area for presenting the material submitted by the presenter, the participant does not need to turn his / her line of sight from the large screen display device to see the material at hand, so that the participant can concentrate on the proceedings.

In the shared screen on the large screen display device,
By providing the material reduction display area in which the material submitted by the presenter is reduced and displayed at a resolution that can be discriminated by each participant, the participants can predict the proceedings from the content of the reduced material in advance.

Further, when the material displayed in the material reduction display area in the shared screen is designated by the pointing device, the corresponding material is gradually enlarged and displayed in the material presentation area, thereby avoiding the trouble of entering a command. To make the operation easy by eliminating it, and to make other participants easily understand the meaning of the operation.

Further, by making it possible for a plurality of participants to write on the material displayed in the material presentation area on the shared screen with a pointing device, the correlation with the related matters becomes clear, and anybody can You can easily write down important matters on the spot.

Further, by providing a material saving area for saving the material displayed in the material presentation area written by the participant in a reduced display of the material and the writing together, it is important. Items can be saved easily.

Further, by providing a function for retrieving the material stored in the material storage area on the large screen display device, when the topic of the meeting goes back in the past, the material corresponding to it can be easily retrieved. it can.

Then, a device is provided for forming a sound field for making the image and sound of the communication partner site displayed on the image display screen correspond to the image display position and the sound source localization without any discomfort. By doing so, it is possible to produce a more realistic meeting by synchronizing the image and sound.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a device configuration of an embodiment of a remote brainstorming support system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a device configuration of an embodiment of a remote area brainstorming support system of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of a shared screen of two different sites displayed on a large screen display device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the processing procedure of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the processing procedure of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an embodiment of the processing procedure of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of one site for explaining an embodiment of a remote area brainstorming support system.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of one site for explaining another embodiment of the remote area brainstorming support system.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of a shared screen of two different sites.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of a shared screen of two different sites.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of a shared screen of two different sites.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of an operation of a shared screen of two different sites.

[Explanation of symbols]

110 ... Hi-vision television camera, 112 ... Large screen display device, 116 ... NTSC camera, 124 ... Pen tablet, 128 ... Microphone, 130 ... Speaker, 200 ... Shared screen, 211-215 ... Pen color change area, 220 ... Material presentation area , 231 to 242 ... Material reduced display area, 25
1, 252 ... Scroll buttons, 253 to 257 ... Material storage area, 260 ... Save button, 430 ... Privileged cursor, 431 ... Pen cursor, 500, 510 ... Image display screen, 520, 521, 522 ... Image switching button.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hiroi Ueda 1-280, Higashi Koigokubo, Kokubunji, Tokyo Inside the Central Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd.

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. In a video conference system using a large screen display device, a shared screen with a site of a communication partner and a close view of a participant photographed from the front of the site of the communication partner are photographed on the large screen display device. An inter-distance conference support system comprising: an image and an image display screen for displaying an image of the entire view of the conference taken from behind. 2. The remote-distance conference support system according to claim 1, further comprising a material presentation area for presenting the material submitted by the presenter, in the shared screen on the large screen display device. 3. The reduced material display area for reducing the material submitted by the presenter at a resolution that can be discriminated by each participant in the shared screen on the large screen display device according to claim 1. A remote area conference support system equipped. 4. The remote control according to claim 3, wherein when the material displayed in the material reduced display area in the shared screen is designated by a pointing device, the corresponding material is gradually expanded and displayed in the material presentation area. Inter-ground conference support system. 5. The remote-distance conference support system according to claim 2 or 4, wherein a plurality of participants can write on the material displayed in the material presentation area in the shared screen with a pointing device. 6. The material storage area according to claim 5, wherein the material displayed by the participant in the material displayed in the material presentation area is reduced and displayed together with the material and the content. A remote area conference support system equipped. 7. The remote-distance conference support system according to claim 6, further comprising a function for searching the material stored in the material storage area on the large screen display device. 8. The sound field according to claim 1, wherein the image and the sound of the site of the communication partner displayed on the image display screen are made to correspond to each other by making the display position of the image and the localization of the sound source coincide with each other. Inter-distance conference support system including a device for forming a conference.