JPH07322231A - Video conference system, terminal equipment and common use screen display controller - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To control cursor display/non-display of each terminal equipment on a common screen. CONSTITUTION:A system control circuit 32 of a terminal equipment being a conference modulator sends control information for cursor display/non-display on a common screen for each terminal equipment to other terminal equipments via a data interface 30, a demultiplexer/multiplexer circuit 38, a line interface 36 and a communication line. Each terminal equipment sends display position information of a cursor of a concerning terminal equipment on a common screen of other terminal equipments via the circuits 30, 38, 36 and the communication line. Each terminal equipment controls cursor display on the common screen of the image monitor 12 according to the cursor display/non-display control information and display position information of its own terminal equipment and other terminal equipments.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video conference system for performing a video conference (or a video conference) between a plurality of points via a communication network, a terminal device for the video conference system, and a shared screen display control device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a video conference system for carrying out a so-called multipoint conference by transferring video / audio / data with a plurality of parties via a communication network, a shared screen for displaying the same image for each conference participant ( It is known that the pointing cursor of each conference participant is displayed on the shared screen by setting a shared window).

In the conventional video conference system, it was up to each conference participant whether or not to display his / her pointing cursor on the shared screen. Therefore, the meeting participants could always display and move their pointing cursor on the shared screen.

[0004]

Therefore, for example, if one conference participant A speaks while operating the pointing cursor, another conference participant B operates the pointing cursor on the shared screen. On the shared screen, the pointing cursor of the participant A and the pointing cursor of the participant B are displayed at the same time, and they move independently, which confuses other conference participants.

It is an object of the present invention to present a video conference system, a terminal device and a shared screen display control device which eliminates such inconvenience.

[0006]

According to the present invention, control information for displaying / hiding the pointing cursor of each terminal on a shared screen is transmitted and received between the terminals, and the display position of the pointing cursor of each terminal on the shared screen is transmitted and received. Send and receive information between terminals. Then, the display of the pointing cursor of each terminal on the shared screen is controlled according to the control information for displaying / non-displaying the cursor and the display position information.

[0007]

With the above means, the display / non-display of the pointing cursor of each terminal can be individually controlled on the shared screen. As a result, for example, the conference participant who is the moderator of the conference can control the display / non-display of the pointing cursors of the other conference participants on the shared screen, so that the progress of the conference becomes neat.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of a video conference terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 10 is a camera for photographing a user, 11 is a document camera for inputting images such as graphs and drawings, 12 is an image monitor for displaying input images, received images and operation screens by the cameras 10, 11. 14 is I
TU-T Recommendation H. An image encoding / decoding circuit 16 which encodes an image signal to be transmitted according to H.261 and decodes the received encoded video data, and 16 outputs the outputs of the cameras 10 and 11 to a predetermined transmission format (for example, CIF or QCI).
This is an image interface that converts the received image decoded by the image encoding / decoding circuit 16 into a display format and outputs it to the image monitor 12 while converting the image into F) and supplying it to the image encoding / decoding circuit 16. The image interface 16 also has a function of selecting, synthesizing, and displaying the input image and the received image from the cameras 10 and 11 separately.

Reference numeral 18 is a handset for voice communication, 20 is a microphone for voice input, 22 is a speaker for voice output, 2
Reference numeral 4 is a voice encoding / decoding circuit (voice codec) that encodes a voice signal to be transmitted and decodes a received encoded voice signal. 26 is the handset 1
8, a voice interface between the microphone 20 and the speaker 22 and the voice encoding / decoding circuit 24.

The voice interface 26 is an on / off hook detecting process for detecting on-hook and off-hook of the handset 18, an echo canceling process for canceling echo when the microphone 20 and the speaker 22 are used, and
It also performs tone generation processing such as dial tones, ring tones, busy tones, and ring tones.

Reference numeral 28 is a data terminal for inputting / outputting, displaying and processing data, and 30 is a data interface of the data terminal 28.

Reference numeral 32 is a well-known device such as a CPU, ROM, RAM, auxiliary storage device, etc., and a system control circuit for controlling the whole, and 34 is a system control circuit 32 for a user to input a predetermined instruction. An operating device (for example, a numeric keypad, a keyboard, a touch panel, and a pointing device such as a digitizer, a track ball, or a mouse).

Reference numeral 36 is a line interface for controlling the line according to the ISDN user / network interface protocol of the ISDN line, and 38 is a control command from the system control circuit 32 converted into a BAS code, and ITU-TS.
Recommendation H. 221, the BAS code and the image information from the image encoding / decoding circuit 14 and the audio encoding / decoding circuit 2
The audio information from the data interface 4 and the data information from the data interface 30 are multiplexed in a transmission frame unit and output to the line interface 36, and the reception frame from the line interface 36 is separated into its constituent elements, each of which is imaged. It is a demultiplexing circuit for sending to the encoding / decoding circuit 14, the audio encoding / decoding circuit 24, the data interface 30, and the system control circuit 32.

In this embodiment, the system control circuit 3
2 exchanges the control data of the pointing cursor between the terminals via the data interface 30, the demultiplexing / multiplexing circuit 38 and the line interface 36.

FIG. 2 shows a basic block diagram of a video conference system constructed by connecting four terminals having the configuration shown in FIG. 1 through a communication network. In FIG. 2, 50 is I
Communication networks such as SDN, 52, 54, 56 and 58 are video conference terminals having the configurations shown in FIG.
It will be installed at four points, D and D.

FIG. 3 shows the ITU-TS Recommendation H.264. 221 shows the format of pointing cursor control information data transferred on the data channel of a frame according to 221. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 60 is a header indicating that pointing / cursor control information data is stored in the subsequent data area 62, and the data area 62 further includes conference participants at points A, B, C and D. Four fields 62a, 62b, 62c, 62d assigned to
It is divided into. This field 62a, 62b, 62
In c and 62d, a flag indicating whether or not the pointing cursor at the corresponding point is displayed on the display screen (hereinafter, referred to as
It is called the cursor display flag. ) Is stored. For example,
When the cursor display flag is "1", the pointing cursor at that point is displayed on the shared screen, and when it is "0", it is not displayed.

Of course, the cursor display flag can be set to "1" in a plurality of fields, and in such a case, the pointing cursors at a plurality of corresponding points are displayed on the shared screen. .

The pointing cursor control information data shown in FIG. 3 is preferably made to be output to the communication network 50 only by the moderator or chairman. By doing so, the moderator or chairperson can fully control the display / non-display of the pointing cursor on the shared screen.

FIG. 4 shows the ITU-TS Recommendation H.264. The format of the pointing cursor position information data transferred on the data channel of 221 frames is shown. Figure 4
In 64, 64 is a header indicating that the following data is pointing cursor position information data, 66 is a field for storing an identifier (source number) indicating the data transmission source, and 68 is the position of the pointing cursor in the X direction. Is a field for storing the position, and 70 is a field for storing the position of the pointing cursor in the Y direction.

The format shown in FIG. 4 may be expanded to include information on cursor attributes (shape, blinking period, color, etc.).

Next, the operation of the pointing / cursor display control in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6 show a flowchart of the data reception process from the data interface 30 in the system control circuit 32 as a whole.

The header of the data received from the data interface 30 is checked to determine whether it is pointing cursor control information data (S1). If it is pointing cursor control information data (S1), the contents of the data area 62 of the received pointing cursor control information data and the contents of the display control table stored in the RAM of the system control circuit 32 are compared. When they match (S2), the process returns to S1 to wait for the next data reception,
When they do not match (S2), the display / non-display of the cursor on the shared screen is changed (S3). The display control table stored in the RAM of the system control circuit 32 stores the cursor display flag of each terminal including its own terminal.

When the cursor display flag from any point is changed from non-display to display, the system control circuit 32 controls the image interface 16 to display the pointing cursor at that point on the shared screen of the monitor 12. Let Conversely, when the cursor display flag from any point is changed from display to non-display, the system control circuit 32 controls the image interface 16 so that the pointing cursor at that point is displayed on the monitor 12.
Not be displayed on the shared screen of.

Then, the RAM of the system control circuit 32 is indicated by the cursor display flag of each terminal included in the data area 62 of the received pointing cursor control information data.
The display control table therein is updated (S4), and the process returns to S1 to wait for the next data reception.

If the received data is not pointing cursor control information data (S1), it is checked from the header whether it is pointing cursor position information data (S5). If it is the pointing cursor position information data (S5), the sending source number is taken out from the sending source field 66 of the pointing cursor position information data, and this sending source of the display control table stored in the RAM of the system control circuit 32 is sent. The field corresponding to the number is referenced (S6). Whether the cursor display flag of the corresponding field of the display control table is display (= "1") or non-display (= "0") is checked (S7), and if it is displayed (S7)
7) The X-direction position and the Y-direction position in the received pointing cursor position information data are fetched and transferred to the image interface 16, and the pointing cursor is displayed at the corresponding position on the shared screen (S8).

If it is not the pointing / cursor position information data (S5), another data receiving process is executed (S9), and the process returns to S1 to wait for the next data reception.

FIG. 7 shows an operation flowchart of the system control circuit 32 according to the track ball movement data from the track ball mounted on the operating device 34.

The system control circuit 32 has a built-in RAM
By referring to the field of its own device in the display control table inside (S11), it is checked whether the cursor display flag of the field is display (= "1") or non-display (= "0") (S1).
2). If it is a display (S12), the image interface 16 is displayed to display the pointing cursor at the corresponding position on the shared screen according to the input track / ball movement data.
(S13). Specifically, the cursor position data is supplied to the image interface 16. Then, input the track / ball movement data by pointing
The cursor position information data is converted into a format and transmitted to another terminal via the data interface 30 demultiplexing / multiplexing circuit 38, the line interface 36, and the communication line (S14).

When the cursor is not displayed (S1
2), end without doing anything.

Although the four-point video conference has been described as an example, it is obvious that the present invention is not limited to this. That is, the present invention can be applied to the case of 2 points, 3 points and 5 points or more.

In the video conference system constructed by using the multipoint connection control unit (MCU), the above cursor information (cursor display control information and cursor position information) is transmitted from each terminal to the MCU, and the MCU receives these cursor information. Displays the pointing cursor from the corresponding point on the shared screen in a superimposed manner and sends it to each terminal. That is,
The cursor control table described with reference to FIGS.
U will keep and manage.

[0034]

As can be easily understood from the above description, according to the present invention, the cursor display / non-display on the shared screen can be individually controlled for each conference participant. As a result, the pointing cursor is not confused on the shared screen, and the conference can be proceeded in an orderly manner.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration block diagram of a video conference terminal that is an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of a multipoint video conference.

FIG. 3 is a transmission format of pointing cursor control information.

FIG. 4 is a transmission format of pointing cursor position information.

FIG. 5 is a part of an operation flowchart when receiving cursor information.

FIG. 6 is a part of an operation flowchart when receiving cursor information.

FIG. 7 is an operation flowchart when transmitting cursor information.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10: camera 11: document camera 12: image monitor 14: image encoding / decoding circuit 16: image interface 18: handset 20: microphone 22: speaker 24: audio encoding / decoding circuit 26: audio interface 28: data terminal 30: Data interface 32: System control circuit 34: Operating device 36: Line interface 38: Separation / multiplexing circuit 50: Communication network 52, 54, 56, 58: Video conference terminal 60: Header 62: Data area 62a, 62b, 62c, 62d: field 64: header 66: data transmission source field 68: X direction position field 70: Y direction position field

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A video conference system that communicates with a plurality of parties via a communication network and shares images with a predetermined terminal,
A first transmitting / receiving unit for transmitting / receiving control information for displaying / hiding the pointing cursor of each terminal on the shared screen, and a first transmitting / receiving unit for transmitting / receiving the display position information of the pointing cursor of each terminal on the shared screen between the terminals. The video conference, which is provided with the transmitting / receiving means 2 and the display control means for controlling the display of the pointing cursor of each terminal on the shared screen according to the cursor display / non-display control information and the display position information. system. 2. A video conference system having a shared screen for displaying the same image on a plurality of terminals, wherein each terminal displays / hides control information and display position of a pointing cursor of its own terminal on the shared screen. The terminal that has transmitted the information to another terminal and received the display / non-display control information and the display position information of the pointing cursor on the shared screen,
A video conference system characterized by controlling the display of a pointing cursor of each terminal on a shared screen according to the display / non-display control information of the pointing cursor and the display position information. 3. A terminal device for a video conferencing system having a shared screen for displaying the same image on a plurality of terminals, the pointing device of the own terminal on the shared screen.
Cursor information transmitting means for transmitting display / non-display control information and display position information of the cursor to another terminal, and display / non-display control information and display position information of the pointing cursor from the other terminal on the shared screen. Cursor information receiving means, display / non-display of pointing cursor from other terminals and display position information received by the cursor information receiving means, and display / non-display of pointing cursor of the own terminal on the shared screen According to the control information and the display position information, pointing / pointing of the own terminal and other terminals on the shared screen displayed on the own terminal
A terminal device, comprising: a display control unit that controls display of a cursor. 4. A shared screen display control device for controlling display of a shared screen in a video conference system, wherein display / non-display of a pointing cursor of each terminal on the shared screen from each terminal participating in the video conference system. Cursor information receiving means for receiving display control information and display position information, and pointing / displaying / non-display control information and display position information of each terminal received by the cursor information receiving means, and pointing of each terminal on the shared screen. A shared screen display control device comprising: a display control means for controlling display of a cursor.