JPS62154888A - Electronic conference system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily make it possible to add or correct data by providing a conference unit system with plural independent pairs of plane display devices to be output systems for displaying drawing picture data and static picture data and drawing picture devices to be input systems for inputting the drawing picture data. CONSTITUTION:Data red out by the static picture input device 200 or data sent from a remote conference room are displayed on the plane display device 150 arranged near each attendant of the conference. To add or correct the contents of the display, each attendant inputs data to a part corresponding to the display contents of the device 150 with a pen through the device 100 arranged near each attendant. The inputted drawing picture data are used for adding or correcting the display contents of the device 150 displayed on the device 150 through a control device 900. To add new contents to the display contents, input is similarly executed from the input device 100.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to an electronic conference system for conducting conferences between remote points, and particularly to an electronic conference system that allows conference attendees to add to and modify documents while seated. Regarding conference systems.

[Technical Background of the Invention] Electronic conference systems have been known as systems for holding conferences between a plurality of remote locations.

As such an electronic conference system, the one shown in FIG. 5 has been considered.

As shown in the figure, this electronic conference system includes a microphone 1, a speaker 2, a television camera 3 for capturing an image of the conference hall, a television camera 4 for copying a manuscript, a television monitor 5, a facsimile machine 6, and a hard copy as a printer. ,H12
, an audio unit 7 that encodes and decodes the audio signals of the microphone 1 and the speaker 2, an image unit that encodes and decodes the image signal]-8, a control unit 9 that controls the image unit, and a control unit 9 that controls the image unit. It is comprised of an operation unit 10 for inputting instructions, and a transmission unit 11 for transmitting and receiving audio signals and image signals.

In such a conventional electronic conference system,
Materials such as manuscripts are read by a television camera 4, a television monitor 5, a facsimile device 6, and a hard copy device 12.
It is configured to output by.

``Technical issues behind the scenes'' By the way, during a meeting, there are times when people make corrections and additions to manuscripts, etc. In the above-mentioned conference system, in such cases, the person giving the explanation uses the TV camera 4. You have to go to the other party's site and make additions and corrections to the manuscript directly, and for manuscripts sent from the other party's system,
For example, once output from the hard copy device 12,
There was a problem in that it required additions and corrections, which hindered the progress of the meeting.

[Purpose of the Invention] The present invention has been made to solve these conventional difficulties, and allows conference attendees to easily add to and modify materials such as documents and manuscripts without leaving their seats. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an electronic conference system that allows meetings to proceed smoothly.

"Summary of the Invention" That is, the present invention provides an input system for inputting drawing data, still image data, moving image data, and audible sound data;
An output system that outputs still image data, video data, and audible sound data; a transmission system that controls the transmission of these data between a remote point; and a control system that controls the input system, output system, and transmission system. In an electronic conference system in which a plurality of conference unit systems including a control system are connected via a line, drawing data is input to the conference unit system and a flat display device as the output system for displaying drawing data and still image data. By providing a plurality of separate sets of drawing input devices as the input system, conference attendees can easily add to and modify materials such as documents and manuscripts without leaving their seats. This enabled the meeting to proceed smoothly.

[Embodiments of the Invention] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a conference unit system according to an embodiment of the electronic conference system of the present invention.

The control device 900 is connected to input devices for drawing, still images, moving images, and audio, and is connected to output devices for magnetic recording, recording output, and audio. Signals from these input devices and signals to the output device are subjected to processing such as selection and multiplexing according to several control information signals, and are also sent as one signal.

The input devices include a plurality of drawing input devices 100 for inputting handwritten characters and figures, a still image input device 200 for inputting documents before or during the meeting, and a still image input device 200 for inputting documents for meeting participants and the background of the conference hall. Video input device 300 for inputting images and audio input device 400 for inputting audio
is connected.

In addition, the output devices include a plurality of flat display devices 150 and graphic display devices (1) 160 for displaying input information of the own terminal and transmitted drawing type and still image type, and graphic display device (1) 1.
A hard copy device 260 performs recording/output (copying) based on the information shown in 60, a graphic display device (2>350
, an audio output device 450 that outputs transmitted audio input information is connected.

Further, the storage device 600 records and reads out this input/output information. The transmission device 700 is connected to two or more other remote conference unit systems.

The above input/output information is generated by signals from various devices such as the operation input device 850, the state detection device 800 that detects whether conference attendees are sitting or leaving their seats, and the speaker identification device 510 that determines the speaker based on the voices of the participants. Transmission is controlled.

Each device forming the main part of the present invention will be explained in more detail below.

) 1/i input device 100 FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the drawing input device 100.

This drawing input device 100 detects the coordinate position information of a handwritten figure, and when pressure is applied to the illustrated writing input surface, the drawing input device 100 uses a pressure detection method that outputs the coordinate data of the point where the pressure is applied. An input unit 101, a sampling unit 103 connected to the drawing entrance unit 101 that samples analog coordinate data, a Bentouch detection unit 104 that detects handwritten input, an input processing unit 105 connected to the sampling unit 103, and a drawing It consists of an encoding section 106 that encodes data, and an identifier adding section 109 that frames this encoded drawing data.

Note that the input ben 102 is for applying pressure to the writing input surface of the drawing input section 101 by drawing a figure or the like on a paper placed on the writing input surface.

Next, the operation of this drawing input device 100 will be explained.

First, when pressure is applied to the writing input surface of the drawing input section 101 (that there is a Bent touch), it is detected from the signal output from the drawing input section 101 that a writing input (Bent touch) has been made. When detecting a bent touch, the bent touch detection unit 104 outputs a control signal instructing the sampling unit 103 and the input processing unit 105 to start operation, and makes the sampling unit 103 and the input processing unit 105 operable.

This sampling section 103 samples the analog coordinate data output from the drawing input section 101 at a predetermined period, digitizes it, and outputs it to the input processing section 105.

The input processing unit 105 receives the coordinate data output from the sampling unit 103 and checks whether or not this coordinate data is appropriate as a coordinate value. When this occurs, interpolation processing or the like is performed to correct the coordinate data based on the previous coordinate data.

Furthermore, when a control signal is given from the input analysis unit 108 (described later) with a command indicating that partial deletion is to be performed, a frame surrounded by the closed curve (described later) is determined based on the coordinate data of the closed curve output from the sampling unit 103. All the coordinate data of the area in the memory section 152 is converted into logical [○J(r
(OJ indicates data that becomes the background color when displayed) is created and output.

Next, the encoding unit 106 encodes the drawing data output from the input processing unit 105 and outputs it to the identifier adding unit 109.

Further, the identifier adding unit 109 adds a frame identifier (FID) indicating that the drawing data is drawing data to the drawing data, and outputs it to the control device 900 .

J3 code 107 indicates a switch input section, and the operator uses this switch input section 107 to display a cursor,
You can input commands such as partial erase and full erase.

In addition, the input analysis section 10 connected to the switch input section 107
8 analyzes the data output from the switch input unit 107 to determine which command the data indicates;
Based on the analysis result, the corresponding control signal is input to the processing unit 1.
05, output to the encoding unit 106.

Flat Display Device 15Ω- FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the flat display device 150. As shown in FIG.

This flat display device 150 displays drawing data or still image data, and is a liquid crystal display (LCD).
A flat display section 151 consisting of
, a frame memory section 152 in which image data is stored, and a drawing reproduction processing section 15 that performs drawing or reproduction of still images.
3, a still image reproduction processing section 154, and a drawing decoding section 15 that decodes drawing data or still image data based on image information.
5, a still image decoding section 156, and an identifier detection section 157 that identifies control information.

The operation of this flat display device 150 will be explained below.

First, control information and image information are sent from the control bag r;j4900 to the identifier detection section 157.

This control information consists of a frame identifier (FID), a device address (SAD), a page control I (PAGE), etc., and there are two types of image information: drawing data and still image data. In the drawing data, commands for, for example, cursor movement are incorporated into coordinate position information. Further, the still image data is data compressed using a method using a run length, for example, in a modified read (MR) code.

Next, in the identifier detection unit 157, it is determined whether the data is drawing data or still image data based on the frame identifier (FID) among the control information, and the drawing data is sent to the drawing decoding unit 155, and the still image data is determined as still image data. Decoding section 15
Sent to 6.

The drawing data decoded by the drawing decoding section 155 is sent to the drawing processing section 153, where interpolation processing of coordinate data necessary for graphic display is performed, and then sent to the frame memory section 152.

The still image data decoded by the still image decoding section 156 is sent to the still image reproduction processing section 154, where image processing such as linear density conversion, enlargement, reduction, etc. necessary for graphic display is performed, and the data is stored in the frame memory section 152. will be sent to.

The frame memory section 152 stores one image data output from the drawing reproduction processing section 153 or the still image processing section 154.
It gets sucked in. The image data stored in the frame memory section 152 is read out and displayed on the flat display section 151 at predetermined cycles.

Control Device 900 FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the control device 900. Although this control device controls all the input/output systems shown in FIG. 1, the following will mainly explain the control of the drawing input system and the flat display output system.

In this control device, data from each human input and data to each output device are transmitted via an internal data bus 901.

That is, drawing data from the drawing input devices @100a, b, .

Here, the letters ``alb'' and ``alb...'' indicate that a plurality of devices with the same function are connected (the same applies hereinafter).

For data output, still images and drawing data are data bus 9.
01 to the flat display devices 150a, b, . . . via the output interface section 916.

Also, accumulated data from the accumulation device 600 is sent to the data bus 901 via the file interface 961.
Conversely, when storing data, the data is sent from the data bus 901 to the storage device 600 via the file interface 961.

Switching of the transmission destination of these data, selection of data, and multiplexing are performed by the frame controller 990.

A transmission interface 9 is installed on the platform that sends the data group collected by the frame controller 990 to the line.
72 to the transmission device 700. The data group sent from the line via the transmission device 700 is sent to the frame controller 990 via the transmission interface 972.

Here, the data buffers 913 and 923 are used when transmission to the data bus is temporarily interrupted due to switching of the data transmission destination or data selection, or when the transmission path capacity is temporarily exceeded due to multiplexing. It is used to store data at different times.

A conference support section 991 controls the frame controller 990. The conference support unit 991 includes a speaker identification device 510, a state detection device 800, and an operation input device 850.
Instructs the frame controller 990 to select data, send destination, etc. by signals from etc.

The data input to this tin control device 900 is as follows.

First, the drawing data from the drawing input devices 100a, b, etc. is slow at about 300 bos, so even if a plurality of these devices are input at the same time, the data speed is several k b p s + "1.
degree. Therefore, the drawing data can be input simultaneously, and are multiplexed and taken in by the multiplexing section 911. In addition, the still image data from the still image human-powered device 200 is 16 kb.
It is about ps.

Further, the input/output devices labeled with alphabets such as a, b, . . . are installed at the hands of each conference attendee.

The operation of the control device 900 will be explained below.

First, a speaker identification signal (ID) indicating who is the speaker is input from the speaker identification device 510.

Further, a document manuscript for the conference is input from the still image input device 200. The still image data read here is data compressed by a method such as frame correlation. Still image data is accumulated via the file interface 961 before the meeting! M is stored in @600, or sent to the other party's terminal through the line while being stored in the storage device @600 during a conference. When accumulating, the page control signal (PAGE
) is added.

Also, during a conference, stored data is read out from the storage device 600 via the file interface 961 and displayed on the flat display devices 150a1b, . . . via the output interface section 916.

These instructions are issued from the operation input device 850 and input as an operation signal (OPSG).

Using this signal, the conference support unit 991 instructs the frame controller 990 about the data destination and sends a page control signal (P
AGE).

When adding and correcting information such as displayed figures and characters, the drawing input devices 100a, b, . . .

When performing the drawing from the drawing input device 100a, the operator determines the input position based on the display on the flat display device fi 150a.

This drawing data is sent to the data bus 901 via a multiplexing section 911, an input interface section 912, and a data buffer 913. In the frame controller 990,
This drawing data is sent to the surface display devices 150a, b, . . . via the output interface section 916, and is sent to the graphic display device <1)
Send to 60.

At the same time, the transmission device 7 via the transmission interface 972
Send to 00.

It should be noted that since the drawing data has a small amount of information and can be sent at a sufficiently low speed, the counting operator can simultaneously input data to the drawing input devices 100a, b, . . . .

For drawing input, each conference attendee has a drawing input device 1 at hand.
00a, b..., and there is a possibility of multiple saws at the same time. When these are ordered, the drawings are stored in the data buffer 913. In particular, when partially erasing the displayed content when modifying it, it is necessary to temporarily suppress other inputs, and at this time the data is stored in the data buffer 913.

The display of a manuscript as a document in the electronic conference system according to the present embodiment, and additions and corrections thereto are performed as follows.

First, the material read by the still image input device 200,
Alternatively, materials sent from a remote conference center are displayed on the flat display device 150 held at the hands of conference attendees.

When each meeting attendee wishes to make an addition or correction to the displayed content, he or she inputs a handwritten note on the corresponding portion of the displayed content on the flat display device 150 using the drawing input device 100 provided at each meeting attendee's hand. .

This input drawing data is displayed on the flat display device 150 via the control I device 900, and additions and corrections are made to the display contents of the flat display device 150.

Furthermore, when adding new content to the display content, it can be done from the drawing input device 100 in the same way.

Further, the person explaining the material can provide a clear explanation by using the cursor function of the drawing input device 100 to point the cursor to the portion of the display content on the flat display device 150 to be explained.

In this way, meeting participants can add to, correct, and provide clear explanations to materials such as documents while seated, and the meeting can be conducted smoothly.

[Advantageous Effects of the Invention 1] As explained above, according to the present invention, a plurality of flat display devices and drawing input devices are provided corresponding to the conference attendees, so that the conference attendees do not have to leave their position. Users can easily add to and revise materials such as document manuscripts without any hassle, and can conduct meetings smoothly.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conference unit system according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a drawing input device, FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a flat display device, and FIG.
The figure is a block diagram of a control device, and FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a conventional electronic conference system. 100... Drawing input device 150...
...Flat display device 160...Graphic display device (1) 200...Still image input device 260...Hard copy Device 300・
......Video input device 350...
-Graphic display device (2) 400...Audio input device 450...Audio output device 510-
...Speaker identification device 600...
-Storage device 700...Transmission device 800...State detection device 850...
......Operation input device 900......iI
I+ 1111 device applicant Toshiba Corporation Agent Patent attorney Sasu Suyama - Figure 1 Figure 4

Claims (1)

[Claims] An input system that inputs drawing data, still image data, moving image data, and audible sound data, an output system that outputs drawing data, still image data, moving image data, and audible sound data, and a remote point. In an electronic conference system in which a plurality of conference unit systems are connected via a line, the conference unit system includes a transmission system that controls the transmission of these data between the two, and a control system that controls the input system, output system, and transmission system. The conference unit system is characterized in that a flat display device as the output system for displaying drawing data and still image data and a drawing input device as the input system for inputting the drawing data are each provided in a plurality of separate units. electronic conference system.