JPH0784905A - Conference screen display/control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable materials which are being shared and executed by OHP to intuitively be grasped and to improve the operability of a user by providing a conference window which displays an OHP object changing in display with a state on the screen of a work station on which an electronic conference is in progress. CONSTITUTION:An electronic conference system consists of work stations 10A-10C which are coupled by a communication network 30, and an LAN, an IDSN, etc., are applicable to the communication network 30. Windows 40A-40C for displaying conference materials, the conference window 20, etc., are generated on the display screens 130 of the work stations 10A-10C by multiwindow functions. In the conference window 20, other attendants are displayed as attendant objects and materials used for the conference are displayed as material objects. Consequently, while the conference materials can be shared and executed by operating the material objects directly, the materials which are being shared and executed can intuitively be understood by the illumination display of the OHP.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a screen display control system of a data processing device having a multi-window function, and more particularly, a plurality of terminal devices (workstations) are connected by a network so that a remote user can display on the screen. The present invention relates to a screen display control method suitable for application to an electronic conferencing system in which a collaborative work such as a meeting and a meeting is performed while referring to the displayed common material.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An electronic conferencing system in which a plurality of users can participate in a conference through a terminal screen by connecting a plurality of terminal devices or workstations through a communication network. As for the technology related to this, there have been many announcements regarding a shared execution method among participants. Further, as a technique relating to processing of materials before and after the meeting, that is, processing of distributing the meeting materials in advance, collecting and recording the meeting materials after the meeting, etc.
There are 30437 and JP-A-62-199186. The former is a technology related to centralized management at a distribution source of conference materials, and the latter is a technique for managing conference materials in time series. Apart from this, as a technique for visually expressing the situation of a conference
64-49465, which uses graphic data to identify participants.

[0003]

The material file may be displayed as an object such as an icon in a normal personal environment. By operating this icon with a mouse or the like, the corresponding AP (application program) can be activated, moved, and copied. However, in the special situation of the electronic conference, when the material file sharing is executed, the technique of visually providing the object corresponding to the material file to the user as the user interface has not been found in the past.

An object of the present invention is to devise a method for displaying an OHP object in a window that virtually represents a place of a meeting so that the materials provided at the place of the meeting are shared and executed. It is to provide it to the user visually.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a conference window for displaying an OHP object whose display changes depending on the state on the workstation screen during the progress of the electronic conference.

[0006]

According to the present invention, the shared execution of the conference material can be performed by directly operating the material object, and at the same time, the material being shared and executed can be intuitively understood by the display of the OHP lit.

[0007]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An electronic conference system having a conference window will be described below as an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings. Note that a conference is taken as an example of the collaborative work performed in the electronic conference system.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic conference system including three workstations 10 (10A, 10B, 10C) connected by a communication network 30. Communication network 30
Is a LAN (Local Area Network) or ISDN (Integr
ated Services Digital Network) can be applied.
On the display screen 130 of the workstation 10, a window 40 (40A, 40A, for displaying conference materials described later) is displayed.
40B, 40C) and the conference window 20 for realizing the present invention are generated by the multi-window function.
The conference window 20 virtually represents the entire conference. The conference window 20 is displayed by activating a conference control program 200, which will be described later, by activating an icon 44 indicating the conference window in the personal environment 42 or by inputting a command.

Each of the workstations 10 has a conversation to assist a conference held via a display screen.
Telephones 50 (50) interconnected by a telephone exchange network
A, 50B, 50C).

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the basic construction of the workstation 10.

In the figure, 140 is a storage device for storing various programs and data, 90 is a central processing unit (CPU) that executes data processing in accordance with program instructions read from the storage device 140, and 100 is in accordance with instructions from the CPU 90. The bit map processor BMP which writes the content which should be output to a display screen in the frame memory 110 as image data is shown. The contents of the frame memory 110 are read by the display controller 120 and displayed on the display screen (output device) 130.

Reference numeral 180A is a keyboard which is one of the input devices 180, and 160 is a keyboard driver 160 which stores a code input from the keyboard in a register 150A.
Is. 180B is a mouse which is one of the input devices, 17
Reference numeral 0 indicates a mouse driver 170 which stores the code input from the mouse in the register 150B. Each workstation 10 is connected via the communication interface device 80.
It is connected to a communication network 30 such as a LAN or ISDN.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of software for implementing the present invention. The software for controlling the conference is conference control program 200 (200A, 200B), AP
There is a control program 210, and in addition, there are various APs (application programs) 40 for displaying conference materials used in the conference. Window system server 220
Accepts user input from the input device 180, issues it as a message, receives a message from the AP 40, and outputs it to the output device 130.
The AP control program starts / terminates the shared execution of the AP, intercepts the message between the AP in the shared execution and the window system server, collects the input from each site, passes it to the AP, and processes it by the AP. The resulting output is distributed to the window system server 220 at each site. In this way, shared execution of AP is possible.

FIG. 4 shows the structure of the conference control program 200 for implementing the present invention. Conference control program 200
Is composed of a communication control unit 250, a display control unit 230, and a data table 240. The communication control unit 250 performs processing by connection of conference communication, that is, participation / leaving of a conference and acceptance of a new participant. Display control unit 230
Controls the display of the conference window 20. In the conference window 20, participants other than oneself are displayed as a participant object 380, and materials used in the conference are displayed as a material object 390. The initial display and display change of the conference window 20 are performed by the window system server 220.
Execute by sending a request to. The data table 240 stores data necessary for displaying each object in the conference window 20.

FIG. 5 shows the structure of the object data table in the data table 240 managed by the display control unit 230. In the object data table, data is set for each object displayed in the conference window 20. The table is an identifier 3 for each object
40, object type 342, if the object is a material, AP name 34 corresponding to the material object
4, a position 346 at which the object is displayed, and other information 348.

FIG. 6 is a processing flowchart of the display control unit 230. When the conference control program 200 is activated by inputting a command or operating an icon, the display control unit 230 first performs an initial process 260. After the initial processing 260, the input waiting state 262 is entered. When the input waiting state 262 is entered, it is determined whether the received input is from the AP control program 210 (step 2
64). If it is from the AP control program 210, the process (process 270) from the AP control program is performed. In the determination of H.264, if the input is not from the AP control program 210, it is determined whether it is from the communication control unit 250 (step 266).
If it is from the communication control unit 250, the process of the communication control unit is performed next. The input from the communication control unit 250 is
Information about attendance / leaving of other participants. When receiving the information, the display control unit 230 changes the display of the conference window 20 according to the change of the information. If the input is not from the communication control unit 250, it is determined whether the input is a user input (step 268). If the input is from the user, user input processing (processing 274) is performed.

FIG. 7 shows a detailed flowchart of the initial processing 260 in the display control unit 230.

In the initial processing 260, first, the data table is initialized, and if an initial value is required, it is set (step 280). The conference window 20 is displayed, and a blackboard object, an OHP object, and the like, which are objects unique to the conference other than participants and materials, are displayed (step 28
2). Next, it is determined whether there are other participants (step 284). If you are trying to start the meeting yourself, there are no other participants. If you are trying to join a conference that is already running, there are other participants. In this case, when the communication control unit connects the conference communication, the other participants can transmit the general participant information, and thereby the participant information can be obtained. In this judgment, if there are other participants,
Get other participant information. That is, the information acquired when the conference communication path is connected is acquired from the communication control unit. Next, the participant object is displayed (step 288). Participant objects are displayed as objects only for participants other than themselves. Next, the material object is displayed (step 290). Display files under the specified directory as meeting materials.
Next, information such as the displayed object is newly set in the table (step 292).

FIG. 8 is a view showing the initial state of the conference window 20 displayed on the screen of the participant D. Objects required for general face-to-face meetings are displayed as objects on this window. Participants other than oneself (participant A, participant B, participant C in the figure) are displayed as participant objects 380, and materials used in the conference are displayed as material objects 390. OHP object 360
Is for sharing and executing the AP corresponding to the material object 390 by the AP control program 210. The blackboard object 370 can perform the shared execution of the blackboard window by performing the execution operation, and all the participants can refer to / input the blackboard window.

FIG. 9 shows a flowchart for processing data from the AP control program 210 in the display control unit 230. The data from the AP control program 210 has an AP end report. When the AP that has been shared and executed in response to the user's operation ends, the AP control program 210 notifies the conference control program 200 to that effect. In this processing 270, it is judged whether or not it is an AP end report (step 300), and if YES, the display of the conference window 20 is changed (step 302) and the data table is rewritten (step 304). If it is not the end report, it is judged whether there is an error (step 3
06), if there is an error, an error process corresponding to it is performed (308), and if not an error, other processes corresponding to the data are performed (step 310).

FIG. 10 is a flow chart for processing a user input to the conference window 20. First, it is determined whether the input is to the object on the conference window 20 (step 320). If it is not input to the object, processing according to the input, for example, processing such as participation / leaving in a conference is performed (step 322). If it is an input to an object, it is checked whether or not the objects are overlapped as the objects are moved (step 324). It is determined whether or not the overlapping of objects is caused by the material object and the OHP object by checking the position where the objects are displayed and the object type (step 326). If the material object and the OHP object overlap, the display on the conference window 20 is changed (330), the data table is rewritten (step 332), and the AP control program 21 is changed.
Issue an AP sharing execution start request to 0 (step 33)
4).

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a state in which sharing execution of conference material is started by operating the material object 390 on the conference window 20. Meeting material object 3
By performing an operation of superimposing 90 on the OHP object 360, the shared execution of the material can be started.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing that the conference material is shared and executed by the operation in FIG. 11 and the sharing execution is in progress. The display of the OHP object changes,
The OHP light comes on. Also, the material object that is being shared is displayed in the light that is turned on. By doing this, the material being shared and executed can be intuitively known. Shared materials are shared window 40
B is newly displayed. This window can be viewed by all the participants at the same time by the AP control program 210 and can be input. In the shared window 40B, a part of the window (the upper part of the window in the figure) can be changed so that the shared window 40B can be distinguished from a window used locally by an individual.

FIG. 13 shows a modification of the display of the OHP object shown in FIG. The data object being shared is displayed on the window attached to the OHP object.

FIG. 14 shows still another display example of the OHP object shown in FIG. Display a list of materials that are being shared.

[0026]

According to the present invention, it is possible to intuitively grasp the material being shared by the OHP by devising the display in the conference window that virtually represents the electronic conference. This improves user operability.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the overall configuration of a conference system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a workstation that constitutes a conference system.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram for realizing a conference system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conference control program for displaying a conference window 20 according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram of a data table format for storing data of each object in a conference window.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an outline of processing of a display control unit in the conference control program.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing details of initial processing in the display control unit.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an initial state when a conference window is displayed according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart of a part of the display control unit that processes an input from the AP control program.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a portion of the display control unit that processes an input from a user.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of performing shared execution of an AP corresponding to a material object on a conference window.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing a state in which a material object being executed is displayed.

13 is an explanatory diagram of a modified example of the display of the OHP object in FIG.

14 is an explanatory diagram of another modified example of the display of the OHP object in FIG.

[Explanation of Codes] 10 ... workstation, 30 ... communication network, 40 ... AP
Window, 50 ... Phone.

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Masami Kameda, 5030 Totsuka-cho, Totsuka-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture Software Development Division, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Kenjiro Mori 1099, Ozen-ji, Aso-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa In-house company Hitachi Systems Development Laboratory (72) Inventor Toshimitsu Hayashi 1099 Ozenji, Aso-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Stock Company Hitachi Systems Development Laboratory

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A single window generated on a display screen of a terminal device having a multi-window function, which is connected by a communication network, shows the state of collaborative work being executed under a specific program on the window. In a visual collaborative work place with a plurality of objects, the user overlaps the material object in the window with the OHP object to share and execute the application program corresponding to the material object, and all the connected terminal devices. A conference screen display control method, which is capable of displaying a window by the application program on the display screen. 2. The shared execution status of the application program according to claim 1, wherein the display of the OHP object is changed while the application program corresponding to the material object is shared and executed. Meeting screen display control method. 3. A single window generated on a display screen of a data processing device having a multi-window function visualizes a state of collaborative work executed under a specific program with a plurality of objects. A conference screen display control method characterized in that a blackboard window can be displayed on the display screens of all connected terminal devices by executing a blackboard object in a collaborative work place.