JPH0738864A - Terminal equipment for video conference - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To eliminate variance when received speeches from respective opposite parties are outputted to a speaker by adjusting the speech levels of the respective opposite parties so that sampled speech levels approximate a standard speech level. CONSTITUTION:A ROM 12 is stored with the number of the opposite parties as a variable N, the maximum sampling frequency of the received speeches from the opposite parties as a variable M, the standard value of a speech level to be outputted from the speaker 26 as a variable Vs, 0 as a variable Vi(I), 0 as a variable Mi(I), and the initial value of the speech amplification factor of an opposite party I as a variable Ai(I). Then when the variable Mi(I) is not smaller than the variable M, the variable Ai(I) is multiplied by Vs/(Vi(I)/M) and a speech amplifying circuit 23 is instructed to set the amplification factor of the speech of the opposite party I to the value of the variable Ai(I). Consequently, the speech level outputted from the speaker 26 approximates the value of the variable Vs.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a terminal device in a video conference system for communicating multimedia (image, voice, data, etc.) with a plurality of parties via a communication line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a video conference system performs multimedia communication by multiplexing images, voice and data with a plurality of parties via a communication line, and mixes voices received from a plurality of parties into one. It is configured to output to a speaker and display images received from a plurality of parties on a multi-window.

[0003]

However, in the conventional example,
Normally, the level adjustment of the microphone that inputs the voice on the other side varies from person to person, and the volume of the speaking voice varies from person to person. , The voice level varies from person to person.

An object of the present invention is to provide a video conference terminal device that solves such problems.

[0005]

A video conference terminal device according to the present invention is a video conference system for performing multimedia communication with a plurality of parties via a communication line, and sampling for sampling the audio level received by each party. Means and adjusting means for adjusting the voice level of each partner so that the voice level sampled for each partner approaches a standard voice level.

[0006]

By the above means, when the voice received from each partner is output to the speaker, the voice level does not vary from partner to partner.

[0007]

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

FIG. 1 shows a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a CPU for controlling the entire apparatus, 12
Is an RO that stores programs executed by the CPU 10.
M and 14 are R for storing data used by the CPU 10.
AM, 16 is an operating device including a keyboard and a touch panel for operating the device, and 18 is a TTU-T
(Former CCITT) Recommendation G. A voice coding / decoding circuit for performing coding and decoding of a voice signal according to 722;
Is a microphone for voice input, 22 is a level detection circuit for detecting the level of the received voice, 23 is a voice amplification circuit for amplifying the received voice, 24 is a voice mixing circuit for mixing the voices of a plurality of received voices, and 26 is It is a speaker that outputs sound.

Reference numeral 28 is a TTU-T recommendation H.264. An image encoding / decoding circuit that performs encoding and decoding of an image signal according to H.261, 30 is a camera that inputs an image, 32 is a display control circuit that displays images of a plurality of partners on a multi-window, and 34 is an image. The display device is an LCD or CRT for displaying.

Reference numeral 36 is a TTU-T recommendation H.264. A demultiplexing circuit that multiplexes and separates images, voices, and data according to 221 and 38 is a line control circuit that controls connection and communication with a communication line.

FIG. 2 shows the structure of a speech frame supplied from the speech coding / decoding circuit 18 to the speech mixing circuit 24. Voice signals from a plurality of partners are time-division multiplexed, and the voice signals of each partner are stored in time slots. In FIG. 2, 50 is a time slot for storing the voice signal of the partner # 1, 52 is a time slot for storing the voice signal of the partner # 2, 54 is a time slot for storing the voice signal of the partner # 3, and 56 is a partner #. 4 is a time slot for storing 4 audio signals. Figure 2 shows the case where there are four people,
Time slot 56 is followed by a time slot with the same repetition.

FIG. 3 shows the memory configuration of the RAM 14.
Reference numeral 60 is a variable N for storing the number of opponents, 62 is a variable M for storing the maximum number of times of voices received from each opponent, 64 is a variable Vs for storing a standard value of the voice level to be output from the speaker 26, 66. Is a variable I for storing the other party's number, 68 is a variable V for storing the other party's voice level, 70 is a variable Vi (1) for storing the sum of the sampling values of the other party's voice level, and 72 is the other party's # 2. Variable Vi for storing the sum of the sampled values of the voice level of
(2), 74 is a variable Vi (N) for storing the sum of the sampling values of the voice level of the phase #N, and 76 is a variable Mi for storing the number of times of sampling of the voice level of the partner # 1.
(1), 78 is a variable Mi (2) that stores the number of times of sampling the voice level of the partner # 2, and 80 is a variable Mi (N) that stores the number of times of sampling of the voice level of the partner #N, 8
2 is a variable Ai that stores the amplification factor of the voice of the other party # 1
(1) and 84 are variables Ai (2) for storing the voice amplification rate of the partner # 2, and 86 is a variable Ai (N) for storing the voice amplification rate of the partner #N.

FIG. 4 shows a flow chart of the program stored in the ROM 12. At the start of communication, the variable N is the number of opponents, the variable M is the maximum number of times of voices received from each opponent, the variable Vs is the standard value of the voice level to be output from the speaker 26, the variable Vi (I) is 0, and the variable is It is assumed that 0 is set in Mi (I) and the initial value of the amplification factor of the voice of the partner I is set in the variable Ai (I). Further, this program is activated each time the audio frame shown in FIG. 2 is received.

First, the variable I is set to 1 (S1). If the variable I is less than or equal to the variable N, the process proceeds to S3, and if not, the process ends (S2).

The voice level of the opponent I is read from the output of the level detection circuit 22 into the variable V (S3). If the variable V is 0, the process proceeds to S7, and if not, the process proceeds to S5 (S4). The variable V is added to the variable Vi (I) (S5), and the variable Mi (I) is added.
Is incremented by 1 (S6).

If the variable Mi (I) is smaller than the variable M, then S
12. If not, proceed to S8 (S7). The variable Ai (I) is multiplied by Vs / (Vi (I) / M) (S8),
The amplification rate of the voice of the other party I is set to the variable Ai in the voice amplification circuit 23.
It is instructed to use the value of (I) (S9). Variable Vi
0 is set to (I) (S10), and 0 is set to the variable Mi (I) (S11). 1 is added to the variable I, and the process returns to S2.

For example, in S8, the average value Vi (I) / M of the voice levels of the other party I sampled is 1/2 of the standard value of the voice level to be output from the speaker 26 (that is, the value of the variable Vs). Then, the amplification rate A of the voice of the other party I
i (I) is doubled, and the audio level output from the speaker 26 approaches the value of the variable Vs.

When the variable V indicating the voice level of the partner I is 0 in S4, the voice of the partner I is not sampled in S5 and S6 because the average value of the voice level of the partner I sampled in S8 is Vi ( This is to prevent I) / M from becoming close to 0 and the amplification factor Ai (I) of the voice of the other party I becoming abnormally large. This is for example to prevent the amplification factor Ai (I) of the voice of the partner I from continuously increasing when the partner I is silent.

In the above embodiment, the ROM 12 and the RAM 14 are used as a storage device for storing programs and data, but a floppy disk, a hard disk or a memory card may be used.

In the above embodiment, the TTU-T recommendation H.264 is used as the image encoding / decoding method. 261 is adopted, MP
EG (Moving Picture Coding)
Other image encoding / decoding methods such as Experts Group) may be used.

In the above embodiment, a moving image is used as the image, but it may be a still image or a continuous still image.

In the above embodiment, the TTU-T recommendation H.264 is adopted as the multimedia multiplexing method. 221 is used,
A method of allocating a plurality of calls to images, voices and data may be used.

In the above embodiment, the voices of the other parties are multiplexed by the time division multiplexing method, but frequency multiplexing, phase difference multiplexing and packet multiplexing may be used.

In the above embodiment, sampling is not performed when the variable V indicating the voice level of the partner I is 0 in S4, but not when the variable V indicating the voice level of the partner I is smaller than a certain value. Good.

In the above embodiment, the variable Vs is set at the start of communication, but the user may change it by operating the operating device 16 during communication. Alternatively, the variable Vs may be set for each partner so that only the voice of the partner who wants attention can be made louder.

In the above embodiment, all the voice levels sampled by the variable M times are averaged, but the voice level of the larger one among the sampled voice levels may be averaged by a certain number. Alternatively, the voice of the opponent I may be sampled into a variable Vi (I) for a certain period of time, and averaged by Mi (I), which is the number of times of sampling.

[0027]

As can be easily understood from the above description, according to the present invention, when the voice received from each partner is output to the speaker, the voice level does not vary from partner to partner.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a frame structure diagram of an audio frame according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a memory configuration of a RAM 14.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a program stored in ROM 12.

[Explanation of symbols]

10: CPU 12: ROM 14: RAM 16: Operating device 18: Voice encoding / decoding circuit 20: Microphone
22: Level detection circuit 24: Audio mixing circuit 26: Speaker 28: Image encoding / decoding circuit 30: Camera
32: display control circuit 34: display device 36: demultiplexing circuit 38: line control circuit 50, 52, 54, 56:
Time slot 60: Variable N that stores the number of opponents
62: Variable M for storing the maximum number of times of sampling of voice received from each partner 64: Variable Vs for storing the standard value of the sound level to be output from the speaker 26: Variable I for storing the number of the partner I 68: Partner I Variable 70 for storing the voice level of the other party Vi (1) that stores the sum of the sampled values of the voice level of the partner # 1 72: variable Vi (2) that stores the total of the sampled value of the voice level of the partner # 2 74: Variable Vi (N) for storing the sum of the sampling values of the audio level of phase #N 76: The partner #
A variable Mi that stores the number of times of sampling of one voice level
(1) 78: Variable Mi (2) that stores the number of times of voice level sampling of partner # 2 80: Variable Mi (N) 8 that stores the number of times of voice level sampling of partner #N
2: Variable Ai (1) that stores the amplification factor of the voice of the other party # 1
84: Variable Ai for storing the amplification factor of the voice of the partner # 2
(2) 86: Variable Ai (N) storing the amplification factor of the voice of the partner #N

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a video conference system for performing multimedia communication with a plurality of partners via a communication line, a sampling means for sampling a voice level received by each partner, and a voice level which is a standard voice level sampled for each partner. The video conference terminal device is provided with adjusting means for adjusting the voice level of each partner so that the video conference terminal device comes close to the video conference terminal.