JPH06351013A - Electronic conference system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To attain conference with presence by clarifying the positional relation ship among the participants, and easily identifying a called party whom a speaker is directly talking to, in an electronic conference system used for the inter-multipoint conference. CONSTITUTION:This system is equipped with plural conference terminal main bodies 101 arranged in remote places, and connected by communicating means, plural cameras 103 connected with each conference terminal main body 101, which image-pick up the terminal users from different directions, displays 102 connected with the conference terminal main bodies 101, which display the video of each terminal user image-picked up by the plural cameras 103 at different positions on a screen or different screens, and display position control parts 203 provided on each conference terminal main body 101, which decide corresponding relations between video signals from the plural cameras 103 and the display positions on the displays 102.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic conferencing system used for a conference between multiple points separated from each other.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a general configuration example of a conventional electronic conference system, there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-246487, and FIG. 7 shows the configuration of this electronic conference system.

In FIG. 7, reference numerals 701a and 701 are conference terminal bodies for controlling communication and input / output, 702a and 702 are displays, 703a and b are cameras for picking up an image of a terminal user, and 704a and 704 are voice inputs. A telephone as an output device, and 705 is a communication network. Conference terminal body 701a,
An input / output device such as a scanner / printer or a keyboard can be connected to b.

Cameras 703a and 703b installed in the respective terminal bodies 701a and 701b capture the image of the user of the terminal, transmit it to other terminals, and the images of the conference participants received at each terminal are displayed on the displays 702a and 702b. indicate. In addition, each terminal body 701
Telephones 704a and 704 installed in a and b allow the conference participants to talk with each other.

[0005]

However, in the above-mentioned conventional technique, only one camera is installed in each conference terminal body, and the position of the camera and the image of the conference participant displayed on the display. The display position of does not correspond to the display position of, so if you talk while looking at the image of the communication partner, the image of the speaker displayed on the display of the communication partner speaks to other people. However, there was a problem that it became unnatural as it was suitable for myself. Also, since the same video is sent to all communication partners, it is difficult to understand the positional relationship between the conference participants, and it is not possible to easily identify who the speaker is talking to directly. Had.

The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, and makes it possible to clarify the positional relationship between conference participants and to easily identify the person with whom the speaker is talking directly. The purpose is to provide.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, an electronic conference system of the present invention is provided with a plurality of conference terminal bodies arranged at remote locations and connected by communication means, respectively, and a conference terminal body. Connected to the camera to capture the image of the terminal user from different directions, and the images of each terminal user captured by the multiple cameras connected to the conference terminal body at different positions on the screen or on different screens. And a display position control means that is provided in each conference terminal body and determines the correspondence between the video signals from a plurality of cameras and the display position on the display.

The present invention also comprises a positional relationship setting means capable of arbitrarily setting the display position of each terminal user on the display.

[0009]

With the above structure, the conference system of the present invention is
Multiple cameras capture the image of the terminal user from different angles and display it in different display positions on the display or in correspondence with the cameras imaged on different displays, so the positional relationship of the participants becomes clear. With
Since the orientation of the face can be seen from the image of the speaker, the person with whom the speaker is directly speaking can be easily identified.

Further, by using the positional relationship setting means, the positional relationship of the conference participants can be arbitrarily set / changed.

[0011]

(Embodiment 1) An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the first of the present invention.
The configuration of the electronic conferencing system according to the embodiment of the present invention is shown, and the configuration example in the case where a conference is held by three persons A, B, and C using a conference terminal having two cameras and one display is shown. It is a thing. Here, only the case where three people use it will be described, but it is easy to extend it to N people.

In FIG. 1, 101a, b, and c are conference terminal bodies for controlling the display position of the image of the communication partner and communication.
102a, b, c are large screen displays, 103a,
b, c, d, e, f are the displays 102a, b, c
Cameras placed on both sides of the top of the camera to capture the image of the user,
104a, b, c are microphones connected to each terminal body, 1
05a, b, c, d, e, f are the respective displays 102
Speakers arranged on both sides of a, b, and c, 106
Reference characters a, b, c, d, e and f are communication means such as lines for transmitting image / audio signals. As the communication means, wireless may be used instead of the line. 203a, b, c are display position control units described later.

FIG. 2 shows conference terminal bodies 101a, 101b, 101c.
3 is a block diagram of image signal input / output units 200a, 200b, 200c in FIG. In FIG. 2, 201a, b, c, d, e,
f is a camera 103a, b, c that captures an image of the user,
a moving image input unit for processing the video signals from d, e, and f, 20
2a, b, and c are image display units that display images on the displays 102a, b, and c, and 203a, b, and c are display position controls that determine the display position of the image of the communication partner on the screens of the displays 102a, b, and c. Part, 204a, b, c,
Reference characters d, e, and f are image signal transmission means.

FIG. 3 shows how three persons A, B and C surround a round table. The display position control units 203a, 203b, 203c in FIG. 2 display the video transmitted from each communication partner at the display positions of the displays 102a, b, c preset for each input. For example, in FIG.
By setting the display position control units 203a, 203b, and 203c so that the positions of the seats A, B, and C in (a) are set, the positions of the seats in FIG. It is possible to make a display assuming a relationship.

Further, by installing one camera corresponding to each communication partner at a position corresponding to the position where the communication partner is displayed, the positional relationship of the seats in FIG. It is realized on b and c. For example, the video of the participant A is the camera 1 installed in the terminal of A.
The display 102 of A is imaged by 03a and 103b.
The camera 10 above the position where the image of B is displayed on a.
The image captured by 3a is sent to the B terminal, the image of the camera 103b above the C image is sent to the C terminal, and the communication means 10 is used.
6a, b and 106c, d.

When A speaks to the image of B displayed on the display 102a, the front face of A is displayed on the terminal of B, and the image of B is displayed on the terminal of C. The profile of A was displayed. This makes it easy to determine that A is talking to B.

Further, as shown in FIG. 1, speakers 105a, b, c, d, e, and f are installed corresponding to each image, and the voice of the person displayed in the image is associated with the image. Further realism can be obtained by connecting so as to output from a speaker or by using a sound image localization technique as described in JP-A-63-014588.

(Embodiment 2) Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 shows a state where a conference is held between three points using an electronic conference system having two televisions as displays, and the conference participants in the first embodiment are grouped. Although there are three points for simplification of description, the same can be applied to the case of N points.

In FIG. 4, 401a and 401b are a television and 4
Reference numerals 02a and b are cameras, and 403 is a microphone. Images of one point are displayed on the two televisions 401a and 401b, and one camera 402a and one camera 402b are installed. The connection of the communication means and the setting / operation of the display position control unit are the same as those in the first embodiment.

The video of the participation group A input by each of the cameras 402a and 402b is displayed on the television 4 under the camera.
It is transmitted by the communication means to the group B participants and the participating group C displayed in 01a and b, and is displayed on the television of the other party. For example, when the participant group A is talking to the television 401a displayed in the participant group B, the image of the participant group A is taken by the camera 402a, and the image of the participant group A facing the front is displayed on the television of the participant group B. It will be shown, and a sideways image will be shown on the TV of the participating group C. As a result, the positional relationship between the conference participants at each point is clarified, and it is possible to easily recognize at which point the participant with whom the speaker is directly speaking is a participant.

(Embodiment 3) Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 is a diagram in which means for arbitrarily setting the positional relationship of participants is added to the configuration of FIG. 1 described in the first embodiment. Here, only the case where three people use it will be described, but it is easy to extend it to N people.

In FIG. 5, 501a, b and c are conference terminal bodies, 502a, b and c are displays, and 503.
a, b, c, d, e, f are cameras, 504a, b, c are microphones, 505a, b, c, d, e, f are speakers, 5
06a, b, c, d, e, f are transmission means, which are the same as those in the embodiment of FIG. 507 is a positional relationship setting means, 508 is a positional relationship input means, 509a, b, c are switches for switching the connection of video / audio transmission means 506a, b, c, d, e, f, 510 is a switch 509a,
It is a switch control unit that controls the operations of b and c.

Here, in order to simplify the explanation, the configuration is such that only the participant C can set the positional relationship, but it is expanded so that each participant can set the positional relationship. Is easy.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the arrangement of the positional relationship setting means 507 and the image signal input / output units 600a, b, c in this embodiment. In FIG. 6, 601a, b,
Reference characters c, d, e, and f are moving image input units, 602a, b, and c are image display units, and 603a, b, and c are display position control units. The only configuration different from FIG. 2 is the positional relationship setting means 507. The switches 607a, b, and c are the moving image input unit 601.
connection of transmission means 506a, b, c, d, e, f for transmitting image signals from a, b, c, d, e, f to other terminals;
Transmission means 506a, b, c, d, e, f of image signals input from other terminals to the display position control units 603a, b, c.
Switch the connection.

When the setting of the positional relationship of the participants is input by the positional relationship input means 508, the switch control unit 510 switches the switches 509a, b, c to a connection for realizing the input positional relationship. At this time, in each terminal, to the switch of the output transmission means 506a, b, c, d, e, f from the moving image input section 601a, b, c, d, e, f and the display position control section 603a, b, c. The switches of the input transmission means 506a, b, c, d, e, f of FIG. As a result, the correspondence between the display position of the image of each communication partner and the position of the camera corresponding to each communication partner is maintained.

For example, when the conference participants are displayed in the positional relationship of the seats shown in FIG. 3A, the participant C uses the positional relationship input means 508 to check the positional relationship of the seats shown in FIG. 3B. When the setting is input, the connection of the switches 509a, b, and c is switched by the switch control unit 510, and the connection of the transmission means 506d and f of the input signal to the display position control unit 603c of the terminal of the participant C is also changed. The input from the terminal of the participant A and the input from the terminal of the participant B can be switched. As a result, the display position control unit 603c causes the display of the participant C to display the image of the participant A at the position where the image of the participant A was displayed before the switch.
Is displayed, and the image of participant A is displayed at the position where the image of participant B was displayed before the switch was switched. At the same time, the connection of the transmission means of the output signal from the camera,
Since the switching can be performed in the same way as the connection of the input signal, the camera that sent the image to the terminal of the participant A before switching the switch sends the image to the terminal of the participant B, and the terminal of the participant B before switching the switch. Since the camera sending the image to the participant sends the image to the terminal of the participant A, the correspondence between the display position of the image of each conference participant and the position of the camera corresponding to each participant is maintained. . As a result, the positional relationship can be set arbitrarily and easily without changing the connection between the conference terminals.

[0027]

As described above, according to the present invention, a plurality of conference terminal main bodies arranged at remote locations and connected by communication means respectively, and a plurality of conference terminal main bodies connected to the conference terminal main body and directed to different directions are used. From a plurality of cameras, a display that is connected to the conference terminal body and displays the images of each terminal user captured by the plurality of cameras at different positions on the screen or on different screens, and the conference terminal body Since it is equipped with display position control means for determining the correspondence between the video signals from a plurality of cameras and the display position on the display, the position relationship of the conference participants is clarified and the speaker speaks directly. It is possible to realize an excellent electronic conferencing system that makes it possible to easily identify the other party and have a realistic meeting.

Further, since the present invention is provided with the positional relationship setting means capable of arbitrarily setting the display position of each terminal user on the display, it is possible to arbitrarily set and change the positional relationship of the conference participants. In addition, it is possible to realize an excellent conference system that can be easily held.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of an electronic conference system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image signal input / output unit of the electronic conference system in the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining a screen configuration of an electronic conference system in the first and third embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram of an electronic conference system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a conceptual diagram of an electronic conference system according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an image signal input / output unit of an electronic conference system according to a third embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram of a conventional electronic conference system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 a, b, c conference terminal main body 102 a, b, c display 103 a, b, c, d, e, f camera 104 a, b, c microphone 105 a, b, c, d, e, f speaker 106 a, b, c, d, e, f communication means 200 a, b, c image signal input / output unit 201 a, b, c, d, e, f moving image input unit 202 a, b, c image display unit 203 a, b, c display position control unit 204 a, b, c, d, e, f transmission means 401 a, b television 402 a, b camera 403 microphone 501 a, b, c conference terminal 502 a, b, c Display 503 a, b, c, d, e, f Camera 504 a, b, c Microphone 505 a, b, c, d, e, f Speaker 506 a, b, c, d, e, f Communication means 507 Position Relationship setting means 508 Positional relationship input means 5 9 a, b, c switch 510 switch control section 600 a, b, c image signal input / output section 601 a, b, c, d, e, f moving image input section 602 a, b, c image display section 603 a, b , C Display position controller

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of conference terminal bodies which are arranged at remote locations and which are respectively connected by communication means, and a plurality of cameras which are connected to the conference terminal body and image the terminal users from different directions. A display that is connected to the conference terminal body and displays images of each terminal user captured by a plurality of cameras on different positions on the screen or on different screens; An electronic conferencing system including display position control means for determining the correspondence between the video signal from the camera and the display position on the display. 2. The electronic conference system according to claim 1, further comprising a positional relationship setting unit capable of arbitrarily setting a display position of each terminal user on the display.