JPH1013805A - Video conference system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To correct the transferring speeds in reproduced signal transmission by decoding stored data by the mode when storing the piece of data and encoding this decoded data by an optional made in communication. SOLUTION: Video data and audio data demultiplexed by a multiplexer/ demultiplexer 2 of an H.221 standard are respectively stored in a video storing part 9 and an audio storing part 10. At the time of reproducing stored data on the side of its own station, each data is transferred to a video decoder 3 and an audio decoder 6 and decoded video data and audio data are reproduced by a display and a speaker. At this time, the mode of each decoder is set equal to the mode at the time of storing data. At the time of reproducing and transmitting stored data to an opposite party terminal in the middle of communication, switches 5 and 8 are turned on to additionally encode decoded data by the video encoder 4 and the audio encoder 7. The mode of each encoder at this time remains unchanged in a present communication mode.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video conference apparatus, and more particularly to a video conference apparatus having a function of storing and reproducing moving images.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional video conference apparatus having a function of storing and reproducing moving images, for example, an apparatus capable of creating, reproducing and transmitting stored data as disclosed in JP-A-6-269005 and JP-A-7-123388. Has been proposed. Further, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 6-225297, a multi-screen display is made possible by providing decoding means for stored data separately from decoding means used for communication in a video conference.

[0003]

In the prior art, when reproducing and transmitting stored data (sending reproduced video to another party while reproducing), it was necessary to match the communication mode with the mode at the time of storage. (The mode referred to here is to determine the communication rate of video and audio in the mode of ITU-T Recommendation H.221.) If the communication mode is not set to the mode at the time of storage, the rate of video and audio is set to This is because video and audio cannot be synchronized with each other, and the reproduction speed is increased or decreased. However, since the communication partner terminal does not support the accumulation mode,
There are cases where the communication mode cannot be changed, and cases where the user does not want to change the communication mode even though he / she wants to play back. An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus capable of reproducing and transmitting regardless of the mode of the stored data and the communication mode.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve these problems, and moving images and audio data transmitted and received at different transfer rates from a plurality of video conference devices are stored in a common storage means. Transfer speed determining means for determining the transfer rate; a decoder for decoding and converting moving image and audio data stored based on the speed detected by the transfer speed determining means; An access unit that accesses the storage unit in response to an operation, an encoder that decodes data accessed by the access unit, and encodes the decoded data at a desired transfer rate; And a transfer means for converting the moving image and audio data to a desired transfer rate and transferring the data. .

[0005]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of an ISDN basic interface of a video conference apparatus according to the present invention. 2 is H. H.221 multiplexer / separator, which has a function of multiplexing / separating each of video data, audio, and LSD data. 3 is a video decoder for decoding video data, 4 is a video encoder for encoding video data, and 5 is a switch for connecting the output of the video decoder to the input of the video encoder. 6
Is an audio decoder for decoding audio data,
Reference numeral 7 denotes an audio encoder 8 for encoding audio data, and a switch for connecting an output of the audio decoder to an input of the audio encoder 8.
H. The video data and the audio data separated by the 221 multiplexing / demultiplexer 2 are stored in the video storage unit 9 and the audio storage unit 10, respectively. When playing back and viewing the data on the own station side, each of the reproduced data is read by the video decoder 3.
To the audio decoder 6. At this time, the mode setting of each decoder is set equal to the mode when data is stored. The decoded video data is displayed as an image on a display (not shown), and the audio data is output as audio from a speaker (not shown). When reproducing and transmitting the stored data to the partner terminal during communication, the switches 5 and 8 are turned on, and the decoded data is further input to the respective encoders 6 and 7. At this time, the mode of the encoder may be the same as the current communication mode, and it is not necessary to match the mode of the stored data. With this configuration, reproduction and transmission can be performed without setting the communication mode to the mode of the stored data, and thus the stored data can be reproduced according to the capability of the partner terminal. For example, consider a case where an answering machine videophone call is performed using the storage function and the answering machine data is remotely reproduced and viewed from another remote terminal. What happens if the answering machine data is created in the audio mode 16K and the remote terminal does not have the audio 16K capability? Even in such a case, reproduction can be performed without any problem. The stored data may be decoded with 16K audio and encoded in a communication mode connected to a remote location.

[0006]

As described above, according to the present invention, when reproducing digitally stored data, the digital data is decoded in the stored mode, and the decoded data is coded in an arbitrary mode during communication to thereby reproduce the stored data. In order to perform reproduction transmission, reproduction transmission can be performed regardless of the mode of the stored data and the communication mode.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a video conference system of the present invention.

[Explanation of Codes] 1 ISDN interface 2 H. 221 multiplexer / demultiplexer 3 video decoder 4 video encoder 5 switch 6 audio decoder 7 audio encoder

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code Agency reference number FI Technical display location H04M 3/56 H04L 13/00 307C 11/06

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A video conference system in which moving images, audio data, and the like transmitted and received at different transmission speeds from a plurality of video conference devices are stored in a common storage unit. A decoder for decoding and converting moving image and audio data stored based on the speed detected by the transfer speed determining means; an access means for accessing the storage means in accordance with the operation of the decoder; An encoder that decodes the accessed data and encodes the decoded data at a desired transfer rate; and a transfer unit that converts the moving image and audio data converted by the encoder to a desired transfer rate and transfers the data. And a video conference system.