JPH10187269A - Telephone conference device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress the useless current consumption when the number of held conferences is smaller than the largest number of conferences by inputting the voice data to a voice processing means corresponding to the registered conference to be held and supplying an operation clock signal to the voice processing means to drive this means. SOLUTION: An input circuit 1 expands the digital input voice data based on the effective circuit information 11 that is received from a private branch exchange control part 10 and outputs these voice data as the linear voice data 211 to 214. A clock distribution circuit 4 decides an (N-1) addition circuit to be operated based on the conference number data 41 which are received from the part 10 and supplies an operation clock to the circuit. The circuit 4 cuts the supply of the operation clock to the (N-1) addition circuit that is not used since no conference is held. Thus, the unnecessary (N-1) circuit is kept in an inactive state and consumes no current. As a result, the useless current consumption can be prevented.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a telephone conference apparatus used in a telephone conference system for conducting a telephone conference via a private branch exchange, and more particularly to control of current consumption.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a telephone conference system for conducting a telephone conference via a private branch exchange. As shown
Teleconference participants hold a teleconference with a digital or analog telephone. The telephone is connected to the private branch exchange, and is connected to a telephone conference device via a switch in the private branch exchange.

Conventionally, in a telephone conference system in which a telephone conference is conducted via a private branch exchange, when a telephone conference is conducted among a maximum of N persons, an N-1 addition system is employed in the telephone conference apparatus. The N-1 addition method is to add all the audio data sent from N telephones and create N-1 added audio data excluding the audio data transmitted by each telephone from the added audio data. , To each telephone. Therefore, the conference call participant will hear the voices of other conference participants other than himself / herself from his / her handset. At this time, the voice of the conference participant is PCM-encoded by the private branch exchange, and input to the telephone conference device as digital input voice data. In addition, when performing addition or subtraction, it is necessary to expand the encoded data to linear data. Then, after the addition or subtraction is performed, the linear data after the operation is PCM-encoded again, and N
It is output to the private branch exchange as -1 added voice data. The N-1 added voice data input to the private branch exchange is converted into voice data, and voices of other conference participants are output to each telephone.

In a conventional telephone conference system employing the N-1 addition method, if it is possible to hold a conference up to a maximum of L (L ≦ N) conferences, L N-1 addition circuits always perform N-1 addition. For example, even when M meetings with less than L meetings are held, no meetings are held.
In order to keep adding invalid data in the 1-addition circuit, the current consumption of the telephone conference device is always constant regardless of the number of conferences held. For example, in a telephone conference system capable of four conferences, the current for four conferences is always consumed even if only one conference is used.

[0005]

In such a conventional telephone conference apparatus, there is a problem that the smaller the number of conferences to be held, the more wastefully current is consumed.

Therefore, it has been desired to realize a telephone conference apparatus capable of suppressing unnecessary current consumption when the number M of held conferences is smaller than the maximum number L of conferences.

[0007]

In a telephone conference apparatus according to the present invention, voice data input from each telephone is distributed and input for each conference registered to be held via an exchange.
In a telephone conference device that processes voice data input for each conference and transmits the processed voice data to each telephone via the exchange again, a number corresponding to the maximum number of conferences is provided. Audio processing means for inputting audio data to the one corresponding to the conference, and processing the audio data to output the input audio data;
Operating clock control means for distributing the operation clock signal to the audio processing means to which the audio data is input and driving the audio processing means. In the present invention, the number corresponding to the maximum number of held conferences is provided, and the voice processing means corresponding to the conference registered for processing processes and outputs the input voice data. The operation clock unit supplies an operation clock signal to the audio processing unit to which the audio data has been input, and does not supply the operation clock signal to the audio processing unit to which the audio data has not been input. Therefore, a current amount corresponding to the number of conferences registered to be held is supplied.

Further, in the telephone conference apparatus according to the present invention, voice data input from each telephone is distributed and input for each held conference via an exchange, and the input voice data for each conference is processed. In a telephone conference apparatus for transmitting voice data processed through an exchange to each telephone, an operation clock control means for controlling a frequency of an operation clock signal in accordance with the number of conferences registered and held, based on a frequency of the operation clock signal And a plurality of audio processing means for processing and outputting the input audio data. In the present invention, the operation clock means controls the frequency of the operation clock signal in accordance with the number of conferences registered to be held and controls the amount of current supplied. The audio processing means operates based on the frequency of the operation clock signal, and processes and outputs the input audio data.

[0009]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Embodiment 1 FIG. FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a telephone conference device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the lines to which voice data is input from the telephone
8, and eight lines N1 to N8 output voice data to the telephone. In addition, the N-1 adder circuit is composed of two circuits, and two circuits are realized by four persons. Therefore, up to four lines (that is, four persons) can participate in one conference (N-1 addition circuit).

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes an input circuit, which holds eight ports. The input circuit 1 converts digital input audio data input to the ports P1 to P4 into linear audio data and outputs the linear audio data to the N-1 adding circuit A1. The digital input audio data input to the ports P5 to P8 is converted into linear audio data and output to the N-1 adding circuit A2. The N-1 addition circuit A1 includes an addition circuit 21 and a subtraction circuit 2
3. The N-1 adder A2 is composed of an adder 22 and a subtractor 24. Addition circuit 2
1 and 22 are driven based on the operation clock sent from the clock distributor 4 and add the linear audio data sent from the input circuit 1. The subtraction circuits 23 and 24
The linear audio data of each conference participant's audio is subtracted from the added linear audio data, and N-1 added output data is output. Reference numeral 3 denotes an output circuit, which is inputted N-1
The added output data is compressed and PCM-encoded again, and N-1
Output to the private branch exchange as added voice data. Reference numeral 4 denotes a clock distributor, which determines an N-1 adder circuit for distributing a clock based on data on the number of conferences currently held transmitted from the private branch exchange control unit 10, and operates an operation clock (for example, 8.00 MHz). Is output.

Next, the operation of the telephone conference apparatus will be described. First, when a subscriber starts a conference call, a particular button on the telephone is pressed. The data of the conference holding permission is transmitted to the private branch exchange control unit 10. If the number of currently held conferences is the maximum number of conferences L, that is, all N
If the -1 addition circuit is used, no permission to hold a conference is issued. Here, it is assumed that no one is holding a conference, that is, that no N-1 addition circuit is used, and that a conference holding permission has been issued. When the conference is authorized, the authorized participant dials the telephone number of another subscriber to be conferenced. The dialed telephone is called by the private branch exchange control unit 10, and the telephone conference starts when the called telephone is turned on. In the present embodiment, 4 lines using input lines of M2, M4, M6 and M8 and output lines of N2, N4, N6 and N8 are used.
An operation when one telephone conference is held will be described.

M2, M4, M6 and M8 voice data output from the telephone are input to the private branch exchange. Each audio data is PCM-encoded, and is input to each of the ports P1 to P4 of the input circuit 1 as digital input audio data. The input circuit 1 expands the digital input voice data based on the valid line information 11 transmitted from the private branch exchange control unit 10,
Are output as .about.214. Here, the valid line data 11 is data for transmitting which conference is currently being used. Therefore, here, the input circuit 1
Does not output anything from the ports P5 to P8 assigned to the N-1 adder circuit A2 which is not used because the conference is not held. Output linear audio data 211 to 214
Are the addition circuit 21 and the subtraction circuit 23 of the N-1 addition circuit A1.
Entered as

The clock distribution circuit 4 determines an N-1 adder circuit to be operated based on the number-of-conferences data 41 transmitted from the private branch exchange controller 10, and supplies an operation clock. In the present embodiment, data that the number of held conferences is 1 is input from the number-of-conferences data 41, and the clock distribution circuit 4
Is an N-1 addition circuit A1 (addition circuit 21 and subtraction circuit 2
An operation clock is supplied to 3).

The addition circuit 21 simply adds the input linear audio data 211 to 214 to obtain an addition total value 212.
The value 3 is output to the subtraction circuit 23. The subtraction circuit 23 calculates the linear audio data 211 to 214 from the sum total 2123.
Are respectively subtracted. As a result, a value obtained by subtracting the linear audio data 211 from the addition total value 2123 is output as N-1 addition output data 311. Similarly, a value obtained by subtracting the linear audio data 212 from the addition total value 2123 is N-1 addition output data 312, a value obtained by subtracting the linear audio data 213 from the addition total value 2123 is N-1 addition output data 313, and the addition total The value obtained by subtracting the linear audio data 214 from the value 2123 is the N-1 added output data 314
Is output as

The N-1 added output data 311 to 314 are input to the output circuit 3. N-1 addition output data 311 to
Since 314 is linear data, the output circuit 3 is N-1
The addition output data 311 to 314 are compressed and PCM-coded, and output to the private branch exchange as N-1 added voice data.

The private branch exchange converts the inputted N-1 added voice data into analog output voice data, and outputs the analog output voice data via output paths M2, M4,.
Output to M6 and M8.

In the present embodiment, a conference with four persons, the maximum number of persons, was held in the N-1 adder circuit A1. Silence data (for example, FF (H) if PCM encoded according to the μ-LAW rule) is transmitted. In addition, the private branch exchange does not output the N-1 added voice data output from the port of the output circuit 3 corresponding to the empty port of the input circuit 1 to the output line without establishing an output path.

In the present embodiment, the clock distribution circuit 4 cuts off the supply of the operation clock to the N-1 addition circuit that has not been used since the conference has not been held, so that the unnecessary N-1 addition circuit is not used. Is in a stopped state and does not consume current, so that wasteful current consumption is suppressed. Also, considering that the clock oscillation source often emits a jamming radio wave to the outside, it is also effective for anti-jamming wave (EMI) by suppressing useless oscillation of the clock.

Embodiment 2 FIG. Although the above embodiment has been described with reference to the teleconference using the N-1 addition method, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is possible to output only the loudest audio data among conference participants. The present invention can also be realized by a value control method, a maximum value + 1 addition control method for outputting the volume data of the two highest volume participants among the conference participants, or the like.

In the above-described embodiment, it is assumed that digital data is input to the N-1 adder circuit. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be applied to an N-1 adder circuit for processing analog data. It is feasible. In this case, however, only the D / A conversion circuit needs an operation clock, and the N-1 addition circuit does not need an operation clock.
This is inferior to the one-addition circuit. In this case, by providing a circuit for controlling the current supply instead of the clock distribution circuit and cutting off the current supply to the unused N-1 adding circuits, the same effect as in the above-described embodiment can be obtained.
When the analog addition is performed, the data expansion circuit and the data compression circuit for expanding and compressing data in the input circuit and the output circuit become unnecessary, which is effective in cost performance.

In the above-described embodiment, the voice data bus between the private branch exchange and the telephone conference apparatus is represented by parallel input / output. However, the present invention is not limited to this. May be used for input / output. However, in this case, a function of converting data input serially into parallel in the addition / subtraction circuit is required.

In the above-described embodiment, the N-1 adder circuit has a configuration in which hardware is divided for each circuit. However, when the number of devices is reduced by one chip such as a gate array, N-1 It becomes impossible to control the supply of the operation clock for each -1 addition circuit. In that case, an operation clock selection circuit having a plurality of clock sources instead of the clock distribution circuit 4 and changing the clock speed supplied by the number of conference participants is added. The operation clock selection circuit supplies an operation clock at a clock speed corresponding to the number of conferences. That is, as the number of conferences to be held increases, an operation clock with a higher speed is required. However, in this case, the clock speed is changed by a decompression circuit that expands PCM data into linear data in the input circuit 1, a compression circuit that compresses linear data into PCM data in the output circuit 3,
In addition, only a portion corresponding to the addition circuit and the subtraction circuit of the N-1 addition circuit is necessary, and in the input circuit 1 and the output circuit 3 which interface with the private branch exchange, the clock speed must not change. Therefore, a clock source for interfacing separately from the operation clock of the variable gate array is required.

[0023]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the clock control means supplies the operation clock only to the audio processing means to which the audio data has been input, the current supply is supplied in accordance with the conference which is not being used. Since it can be suppressed, wasteful current consumption is suppressed. In addition, since the useless clock oscillation is suppressed, it is also effective for countermeasures for jamming radio waves generated by the clock oscillator.

According to the present invention, the clock control means controls the frequency of the operation clock signal according to the number of conferences being held and controls the clock speed, so that the clock is supplied according to the number of conferences being held. The amount of current can be suppressed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration block diagram of a telephone conference device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a telephone conference system.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Input circuit A1, A2 N-1 addition circuit 21, 22 Addition circuit 23, 24 Subtraction circuit 3 Output circuit 4 Clock distribution circuit 211-214, 221-224 Linear audio data 311-314, 321-324 N-1 addition output Data 2123, 2224 Summation value 41 Conference number data signal 11 Effective line information data signal 421, 422 Operation clock signal M1 to M8 Input audio data N1 to N8 Output audio data

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. Voice data input from each telephone is distributed and input for each conference registered for holding through an exchange, and the voice data input for each registration is processed, and the exchange is again operated. In a telephone conference device that transmits the processed voice data to each of the telephones, a number corresponding to the maximum number of held conferences is provided, and the voice data is input to the one corresponding to the registered conference held, A voice processing unit that processes the voice data and outputs the processed voice data, and distributes the operation clock signal to the voice processing unit that receives the voice data and drives the voice processing unit. A telephone conference device comprising: an operation clock control unit. 2. The voice data input from each telephone is distributed and input for each held conference via an exchange, and the input voice data for each conference is processed and again processed via the exchange. An operation clock control unit for controlling a frequency of an operation clock signal in accordance with the number of conferences registered to be held, wherein the input is performed based on a frequency of the operation clock signal. And a plurality of voice processing means for processing and outputting the obtained voice data. 3. The voice data input from each telephone is distributed and input for each held conference via an exchange, and the input voice data for each conference is processed and then processed again via the exchange. In the telephone conference apparatus for transmitting the obtained voice data to each of the telephones, a number corresponding to the maximum number of held conferences is provided, and while the operation clock signal is being input, the N (N) N is an integer of 2 or more), and outputs N N-1 added audio data obtained by subtracting the N audio data from the added audio data. An N-1 adder circuit for stopping the operation if not input, and a clock distribution circuit for distributing the operation clock signal to the N-1 adder circuit to which the audio data has been input. And call conferencing equipment.