JPH1125039A - Multimedia information communication system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a comparatively inexpensive and highly reliable multimedia information communication system while configuring many application systems in an optimum state within a short period. SOLUTION: A terminal equipment is provided with a main processor 1 and a coprocessor 28 having operating systems in ROMs as standard packaging, circuit elements 8, 12, 15, 16, etc., are also loaded on the terminal equipment to have minimum communication control functions required as a multimedia terminal and picture/sound real time processing functions, and extending devices 5, 6, 27, 25, etc., having functions necessary in each of various applications as software modules are loaded on a substrate having the basic constitution to specify each application system. Picture data or the like are stored in a server or a host computer.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a multimedia information communication system capable of communicating not only character information but also image and voice information with a server or a host computer.
In particular, the present invention relates to a terminal device and a multimedia information distribution system using the terminal device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A terminal device of a multimedia information communication system includes a terminal device based on a personal computer having various functions in addition to a communication function and a terminal device having a dedicated terminal function having only a specific communication function.

The former is widely used because of its excellent function expandability and versatility, and is equipped with a personal computer function device such as a CPU and a memory on a motherboard, and an expansion function device such as a multimedia communication device. And so on. The software is roughly divided into an OS, a device driver, and application software. In general, all of these are stored on a hard disk, and are transferred to a memory on a motherboard after startup to operate.

[0004] In the latter, hardware and software are developed specifically for a specific application, and a dedicated board is configured for the application. The software is stored on a memory (ROM) or on a CD-ROM, and operates mainly at the storage location after startup.

[0005]

A personal computer-based terminal device gives priority to versatility, making it difficult to optimize for building a specific application system.

For example, it is difficult to realize a device that is installed outdoors and used continuously for a long time in an unmanned environment with a personal computer including general-purpose hardware and software. Also,
Since general-purpose software is used, its size is large, and it is difficult to operate only on a memory including a work area and the like, and a hard disk must be mounted. For this reason, the cost of the apparatus is increased, and there is a problem in reliability such as occurrence of a failure in a hard disk having a mechanism portion.

[0007] On the other hand, a dedicated terminal device is developed for a specific application, and thus has poor expandability of functions. In addition, since hardware and software technologies are specially developed, it is difficult to use them for other application systems.

[0008] It is an object of the present invention to provide a multimedia information communication system which is relatively inexpensive and has high reliability while enabling a large number of application systems to be optimally constructed in a short period of time.

[0009]

According to the present invention, there is provided a multimedia information communication system for communicating multimedia information between a server or a host computer and a terminal device.
M is equipped with the standard processor, which has the minimum communication control function and the real-time image / sound processing function required for a multimedia terminal. It is characterized by a configuration in which a software module-based expansion device is mounted and specialized for each application system.

The server is characterized in that the server compresses and collects and stores image and audio information of a plurality of channels, and distributes the image and audio information to a plurality of terminal devices via a communication line.

[0011] The terminal device is characterized in that images and sounds received from the server or the host computer are decompressed and output to a television or a display device.

The terminal device compresses image information and sound collected by a television camera and a microphone,
The data is transmitted to the server or the host computer together with characters input by a remote controller or a keyboard.

[0013] The server or the host computer communicates with the Internet or an intranet according to a standard protocol, and communicates with the terminal device through a unique network specialized for each application.

[0014]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

(First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a board configuration diagram of a terminal device (MMTP) showing an embodiment of the present invention. The main processor 1 has an OS-9 as a ROM as an operating system, and has a communication control function, a real-time image / sound processing function, a man-machine function, and a process input / output function by combining a flash ROM 2 and an SRAM 3.

Among these functions, communication control includes a bus
Connection to a public telephone line by a modem card 5 coupled through a voltage switching element 4, PIAFS (PHS Int
ernet Access Form Standa
rd) Mobile phone (PH) using interface card 6
S) Get connection through, server (host station)
Enables multimedia communication between and

For real-time image processing, an image captured by a video camera or digital still camera connected to a terminal
The TSC decoder 8 captures the image data as image data, stores the image data in a buffer memory 9, compresses the image data with a software module, and transmits the image data to a host station or the like via the bus switching element 10 by the communication control function. .

The image data stored in the buffer memory 9 and the image data received by the communication control function are compressed by a software module, and then compressed in the display memory 1.
The video signal is cut out to 1 and returned to an image signal by the NTSC encoder 12, and an image can be displayed on a video monitor via the line interface 13.

For real-time processing of voice, a voice signal collected from a microphone connected to a terminal device is stored in a buffer memory 9 by an audio A / D converter 15 via a line interface 14, and the voice data is stored in an image. Like the data, the data is compressed by the software module and then transmitted to the host station or the like.

The audio data to be stored and the received audio data are decompressed by a software module, returned to an audio signal by an audio D / A converter 16, and output to a headphone or the like via a line interface 17. I do.

Other man-machine functions apart from the above-described real-time processing of images and sounds include an LCD controller 1
8, character information on the liquid crystal panel 21 by the SRAM 19 and the LCD driver 20 can be displayed. The display of the character information can include the kanji stored in the kanji font memory 22.

A key input from various switches 23 provided on the terminal device and a signal received by the receiver 24 from an operation signal from a remote control device attached to the terminal device are
It is also possible to take in by the key / remote controller input controller 25. The characters input by the remote controller or the keyboard can be transmitted to a server or the like together with the collected image information and sound.

The process input / output function includes information on input / output with a process terminal or a keyboard.
Input / output via the interface 26.

Another function of the terminal device is an interface card 27 as a functional element of a conventional personal computer.
With the implementation of the above, it is possible to provide functions such as asynchronous communication (UART), a DMA controller, and an interrupt controller.

The circuit configuration for realizing the functions described above, except for the main processor 1, is appropriately mounted according to the processing functions required from the application system to the terminal device. As means for powering up the processing function of the main processor 1, a coprocessor 2
8 and a DRAM 29, a ROM 30, and an SRAM 31.

The coprocessor 28 is, like the main processor 1, an OS-operating system.
9, a bus switching circuit 10 and a dual port SR
The AM 32 enables data exchange between the main processor 1 and various functional elements connected to the bus, and is mounted when high-speed processing such as image real-time compression processing and audio real-time compression processing is required. These processes are
By allowing the coprocessor 28 to execute as a process on the OS-9, it is easy to change software in accordance with a change in hardware configuration.

The system and data controller 33 manages a system state and data exchange necessary for various processes by the main processor 1 and the coprocessor 28.

The bus expansion logics 34 and 35 are for expanding the buses of the main processor 1 and the coprocessor 28, and transfer data to and from a bus on an expansion board provided when expanding the functions of the terminal device. Do.

In the terminal device capable of mounting the above configuration and functions, the main processor 1 and the coprocessor 28 are provided with software shown in FIG. The main processor 1 performs a real-time output process of a still image and a sound, controls communication with the outside having various drivers, and absorbs a difference in a communication method by a unique protocol in this control. The coprocessor 28 performs a real-time input process of a still image and a sound.

A terminal device equipped with these software and hardware performs a multimedia communication with a server by selecting and implementing an expansion device in which functions necessary for various applications are converted into software modules. And a terminal device specialized for each application system.

FIG. 3 shows an example of usage of a terminal device (MMTP). FIG. 7A shows a case where only the custom specification required for the application system is added without changing the terminal device portion. In this case, since the terminal device has a considerable common function required for the application system, various specialized application systems can be constructed only by adding a few custom specifications. The elements of application system development and verification are:
Mainly the custom specification part only, the functions of the terminal device can be used efficiently, and the system development cost and development period are advantageous.

FIG. 3B shows a case in which, among the hardware and software installed in the terminal device, those unnecessary for the application system (for example, image / audio output functional elements) are stopped and custom specifications are added. It is. This mode means that unnecessary functions can be deleted in units of blocks because the terminal device is configured by blocking the functions, and a system in which costs are reduced by deleting blocks can be constructed.

FIG. 3C shows a common technical element (for example, J
ava, MPEG, security). In this case, the common technical element may be realized by the license purchase and porting of the manufacturer, and is added to the terminal device separately from the custom specification.

FIG. 4 shows an example of an application system using a terminal device. FIG. 1 shows a case where a terminal device is specialized in a portable video transmission device and is combined with a video camera to constitute a handy-view system for transmitting images and sounds to a server via a PHS or a telephone line.

The portable video transmission device 41 is the same as that shown in FIG.
Of the terminal device configuration, a PIAFS-IF card 6 for obtaining a communication control function using the PHS 42 is mounted in addition to the main processor 1 and the coprocessor 28, and the captured image and sound from the video camera 43 and the PHS 42 are transmitted. The decoder 8 and the A / D converter 15 and the D / A converter 16 for obtaining the function of real-time processing of the transmitted voice are mounted, and circuit elements having other functions are omitted.
Note that a configuration in which analog communication is performed by a modem instead of digital communication by the PHS 42 is also possible.

As a multimedia maintenance support system, an image photographed by the photographer M at the site is transmitted to the multimedia maintenance support server 44 at the center via the portable video transmission device 41 and the PHS 42, and the image display by the server 44 is performed. An audio output is made. Since the portable video transmission device 41 does not have a hard disk, the captured image and audio data are stored in a file on the memory server 44 side.

The server 44 is compatible with the intranet, so that all clients on the network to which the server is connected can see the same image, and can reproduce voice memos. You can also create a report with images and audio and send it to other clients.

FIG. 5 shows another example of an application system using a terminal device. The figure shows a case where a terminal device is specialized for a multimedia service terminal. The service terminal 51 is installed at a place where the user visits unattended,
It has a video phone function, a remote photography transmission function, a multimedia information providing function, a multimedia remote monitoring control function, and the like.

For this purpose, the service terminal 51 is provided with a video telephone comprising a handset 52, a camera 53 and a color liquid crystal display 54, and inputs and outputs images and sounds to and from the main processor 1 shown in FIG. Communication control function element 5, image and sound input / output circuit elements 8, 15, 16,
12 and 21 are provided, and other functional elements are omitted.

With this configuration, the service terminal 51 and the server 55 on the office side can communicate with each other by a videophone function using a public telephone line (or a dedicated line). In this system, for example, as shown in FIG. 6, a service terminal group in each area A to D can be connected by a telephone line (dedicated line) from a server 55 via a collective modem 55A, The service terminals MM / ST are connected to each other every time. Such a multimedia service terminal is suitable for a case where the number of terminal users is small for allocating personnel at each base and is large for disregarding, for example, a maximum of 4 areas per server, 1 area per server The system is provided with a maximum of 16 terminals.

In order for the service terminal 51 to have a remote photographing transmission function, a multimedia information providing function, and a remote monitoring control function, a monitoring camera 56, a sound collecting microphone 57,
This is realized by adding a loudspeaker amplifier 58 and a speaker 59 and the like, and providing the transmission interfaces 26 and 27 and the like in the service terminal.

(Second Embodiment) As described above, a multimedia service terminal that can have each function is:
It can also be used for terminals in multimedia information distribution systems. For example, the multimedia information distribution system shown in FIG.
As shown in the hospital information distribution system, images and sounds of patients and newborns in the hospital are individually
1 and store it in the server 62, and store it in the telephone line / P
It transmits to the service terminal 63 of each home through the BX extension,
Images and sounds are obtained from the television 64 at home.

In this system, on the server 62 side, Wi
WindowsNT or PC running OS2 to convert multiple channels of image and audio data to TrueSpeech
(Made by DSP Corporation, USA) Information is compressed by an algorithm, packetized into a format suitable for a multimedia terminal, and the service terminal 63 side via a modem / ISDN / LAN, etc., together with characters input by a remote controller or a keyboard. And the service terminal 63 sets
It enables a TV connection as a top box type, decompresses the received compressed image and audio data, and reproduces it on the TV.

As described above, the multimedia information distribution system using the service terminal is cheaper and simpler than a general multimedia communication system using the Internet. For example, when using the Internet,
The transmitting side requires installation of a WWW server, etc., the receiving side requires a personal computer or a workstation, and additional equipment for creating multimedia information, which requires high communication costs. In a system using a service terminal, a general television is used, and a service terminal specialized in image processing is used, and information can be distributed over an inexpensive public telephone line.

As another multimedia information distribution system using a service terminal, the following system can be constructed.

(1) Existing Infrastructure Utilization System: System communication By utilizing the existing infrastructure such as a karaoke network (narrow band), existing facilities are used as they are, and multimedia information other than cameras is distributed.

(2) Disaster information distribution system: Distributes information related to a wide area such as earthquake information to a remote place through a narrow-band transmission line.

(3) Two-way multimedia communication system: Two-way information communication is performed with the center side by specializing the service terminal having an information transmission function.

(4) Multimedia information distribution system using the Internet: TCP /
A protocol such as IP, PPP, or SLIP is incorporated and used as a communication infrastructure of the Internet.

(5) Multimedia application system using Java: Java is used for the server and the service terminal.
By incorporating va, a specific application by Java is provided at a wide area and at a low price.

(6) Wide-area multimedia information service system: A multimedia server is installed near an object (office, tourist spot, monitoring destination, etc.) where multimedia information is to be input, and multimedia information is input by a camera / microphone or the like. The information is transmitted to a center or the like via a network, and the center distributes the requested multimedia information to the service terminal.

In this case, even when the target to be input is located at a plurality of remote locations, this can be realized by installing the low-cost personal computer-based multimedia server by the number of locations. As the distribution information, for example, in a system for a tourist spot, a travel agent can provide a photographic image and sound of “the day and then” of a tourist spot or the like requested by a customer.

(Third Embodiment) As described above, a multimedia service terminal that can have each function is:
It can also be used for low-cost, closed network multimedia information distribution system terminals. This will be described in detail below.

The Internet and the intranet are basically open environments, and have a high degree of freedom for terminal / client users and a wide range of information that can be exchanged through the network. On the other hand, since TCP / IP is used as a basic protocol, it is difficult to transmit user information such as an IP address on a network in a visible form in order to enhance the reliability (security, maintainability, etc.) of the system.

Also, since the terminal / client uses the IP-based protocol, the network connection becomes a heavy process. In particular, in the case of a public line connection (connection by a modem or ISDN-TA), implementation of IP, TCP, UDP, and PPP is almost essential. And in many cases smtp, ftp, te
An implementation such as a lens is required. Further, in a network computer, http, a web browser, J
It is also necessary to implement an ava / Telescript execution environment. Due to the necessity of these devices, terminals / clients need to be of a reasonable size, and there is a limit to the cost reduction.

As described above, the open network system has problems of its reliability and terminal cost. In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, a multimedia information distribution system using a service terminal is used. In this way, reliability and cost reduction are achieved.

In this system, a host / server is installed between a conventional server and a terminal, and some of the functions required of the terminal as a system are executed on the host / server, thereby reducing the processing of the terminal. , A low-cost system in terms of initial fees, throughput, running costs, and the like.

In the Internet or the intranet 71, each server 72 such as WWW and mail is connected by an open network similar to the conventional one. This server 72
The host / server 73 is connected to each service terminal 75 as a host via a proprietary network (general public line, dedicated line, LAN, etc.) 74 in addition to the connection to the Internet (intranet). Get.

The service terminal 75 has a minimum circuit configuration necessary for information distribution, and transmits information to and from the host / server 73 by a unique protocol.

The host / server 73 includes a service terminal 75
Collects information using a unique protocol, converts this information into a standard protocol such as the IP base, and exchanges information with the Internet (intranet) 71.

Therefore, the host / server 73 bridges the world according to a standard protocol such as the Internet (intranet) with a unique network convenient for each service terminal 75. If necessary, an internet (intranet) server function such as a WWW server or a mail server may be provided in the same physical device as the host / server, or a LAN server function such as a file server or a database server may be provided. it can.

With such a system configuration, the service terminal 75 can reduce necessary resources,
This enables cost reduction by optimizing terminal functions, light processing using a unique protocol, security assurance, and connection of a dedicated terminal for a unique network to the Internet (intranet).

The host / server 73 has a platform of UNIX, OS / 2, WindowsNT, Windows.
A multitask OS such as ws95 is installed, and each function can be operated in parallel. As a result, an optimal function distribution from the viewpoint of the system application can be allocated to the host / server 73 and the service terminal 75.

For example, the service terminal has SetTopB
In a system using a terminal such as ox, a standard protocol group to be implemented in the terminal is limited, and a system for connecting to a network with the Internet (intranet) or a general-purpose LAN by the host / server 73 is constructed.

Also, Java or Telescri
This is an application system based on remote programming / remote procedure call technology such as pt.
A system that satisfies the requirements as a whole system is constructed without seeking network computer requirements corresponding to pt or the like.

The initial fee according to the present embodiment is approximately as follows in an Internet (intranet) type system except for a communication infrastructure such as a line and a router for simplicity.

Initial fee = server unit price × server unit number + terminal unit number × terminal unit number + system software cost Of these, the server unit price is low due to the recent reduction in the price of personal computers, and is about 500,000 yen. It is.
The terminal price is about 200,000 yen for a low-cost personal computer and about 50,000 yen for a network computer.

If the price of the service terminal 75 of this embodiment is 20,000 yen due to its specialization, the cost is reduced by 30,000 yen per terminal. Then, the host / server 73 by the addition is based on OS2 or Windows NT.
If the installation supports four lines, the first unit costs 500,000 yen, 2
Subsequent units can be realized for about 200,000 yen, and significant cost reduction is possible. In addition, in the dial-up operation using a public line, the number of simultaneously connected terminals is much smaller than the total number of terminals.
Significant cost reduction is possible with most systems.

Further, according to the present embodiment, it is effective to connect an area having a low communication cost by an original network and connect to the outside by the Internet (intranet). In other words, a host / server is set up for each region,
If the regions are connected by the Internet (intranet), an inexpensive closed-type application can be constructed using the Internet (intranet), which has low communication costs between regions, as a transport.

The service terminal according to the present embodiment comprises:
Its holdings can be significantly reduced. For example, according to experiments, JPEG real-time decompression display and G.723
Even if real-time decompression playback, operator operation key capture, and host communication using the V.42bis protocol of the modem are realized, the 32-bit RISC-CPU + program size 128KB + work memory 384KB can be used.
The multimedia SetTopBox could be realized without using any other memory or disk. In addition, host /
The server was also realized on a personal computer base with a minimum configuration, i486DX2 for CPU, 32MB for RAM, and 500MB for hard disk.

[0070]

As described above, according to the present invention, a terminal device is provided with a processor having an operating system as a ROM as a standard, and a minimum communication control function required for a multimedia terminal and a real-time image / sound are provided. Optimized for a large number of application systems in a short period of time by providing processing functions and implementing expansion devices that have software modules for functions required for various applications on boards with this basic configuration and specializing for each application system A relatively low-cost and highly reliable system can be constructed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a board configuration diagram of a terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a software configuration diagram of a main processor and a coprocessor of the terminal device.

FIG. 3 is an example of a usage form of a terminal device.

FIG. 4 is a portable video transmission device and a multimedia maintenance support system using the same.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a multimedia service terminal.

FIG. 6 is a multimedia service terminal system.

FIG. 7 is an example of a hospital information distribution system.

FIG. 8 is a multimedia information distribution system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Main processor 5 ... Modem card 6 ... PIAFS-IF card 8 ... NTSC decoder 9 ... Buffer memory 11 ... Display memory 12 ... NTSC encoder 15 ... Audio A / D converter 16 ... Audio D / A converter 28 ... Coprocessor 41 ... Portable video transmission device 44 Handy view server 51, 63, 75 Multimedia service terminal 55 Office server 62 Multimedia server 73 Host / server 74 Original network

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI H04N 7/173 H04N 7/173

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A multimedia information communication system for communicating multimedia information between a server or a host computer and a terminal device, wherein the terminal device is provided with a processor having an operating system as a ROM as a standard, It has the minimum communication control functions required for a media terminal and the real-time image / sound processing function, and implements an application by mounting an expansion device that has software modules for functions required for various applications on a board with this basic configuration. A multimedia information communication system characterized by a configuration specialized for each system. 2. The server according to claim 1, wherein the server compresses and collects and stores image and audio information of a plurality of channels, and distributes the image and audio information to the plurality of terminal devices via a communication line. The multimedia information communication system according to claim 1. 3. The multimedia information communication system according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device expands an image and a sound received from the server or the host computer and outputs the image and sound to a television or a display device. . 4. The terminal device performs data compression on image information and sound collected by a television camera and a microphone, and transmits the data together with characters input by a remote controller or a keyboard to the server or the host computer. The multimedia information communication system according to claim 1. 5. The server or the host computer,
The multimedia according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein communication with a standard protocol is performed with the Internet or an intranet, and communication with the terminal device is performed with a unique network specialized for each application. Information communication system.