JPS63114485A - Video conference equipment control system - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To freely control the equipments such as a camera of a remote side mutually by using the same line by providing a control board for transmitting a control signal for controlling the equipments of the remote side. CONSTITUTION:An analog television signal from a television camera 1A is band compressed in a highly efficient encoding circuit 3A via an A/D converter 2A, multiplexed on a camera 1B control signal (b) from a camera control board 4A in a multiplex circuit 5A and outputted to a transmission path 7A from a transmission line interface circuit 6A. Transmission path data inputted from a transmission path 8A is separated in a separating circuit 10A via a receiving line interface circuit 9A, a band is extended and decoded by a highly efficient decoding circuit 11A and projected on a television monitor 13A through a D/A converter 12A. A camera control signal (h) is inputted to the control terminal of the television camera 1B and the television camera 1B is controlled according to the camera control of the remote side.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention particularly relates to a system for controlling equipment on the other side in a video conference device that simultaneously transmits and receives image information, audio information, etc. to and from each other via a transmission path.

[Conventional technology]

Up until now, telephones have been used to send information to the other party by voice in order to communicate with the other party in a remote location. That is, it converts information into an electrical signal, sends it to the other party via a transmission line (9), converts the electrical signal into the original information, and transmits it. Furthermore, with the advancement of communication technology,
It became possible to send even television images over this transmission line. Television is called Kinuta or video conference.

Now, in a video conference, image signals, audio signals, etc. are sent and received via transmission lines that connect head offices and branch offices located in distant locations, and between offices. Therefore, conference participants can have a conference with people who are located far away, as if they were in the same conference room, thereby eliminating the travel and time constraints associated with actually meeting all together. This means that there will be no need to do so.

The video conference room is equipped with TV cameras, microphones, and other equipment. For example, for each group of 3 people, 1
One television camera and two microphones were placed, and one television camera was placed facing the speaker, and these devices were controlled by a control box placed in front of the group. was.

[Problem that the invention seeks to solve]

In conventional video conferences, the only controllable equipment was the equipment in the conference room where the control box was placed, and neither party could control the other party's TV cameras or the like. Therefore, even if you wanted to see it close up or panning, there was a drawback that you could not freely view it.

[Means for solving problems]

The present invention provides a television conference device that multiplexes image signals, audio signals, etc. and transmits and receives them via a transmission path, and includes a control port that sends out control signals to control equipment on the other side;
A multiplexing circuit that multiplexes this control signal together with the image signal and audio signal, a separation circuit that separates this multiplexed control signal together with the image signal and audio signal, and a device on the other side that receives this control signal and is controlled. It consists of

[Effect]

The control signal that controls the other party's equipment such as a television camera is
Since it is sent from the control port to the multiplexing circuit and multiplexed, this multiplexed control signal is input to the separation circuit, separated, and guided to the device on the other side. Therefore, the other party's equipment, such as a television camera, can be freely controlled by this control signal.

〔Example〕

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Note that the same elements are given the same reference numerals throughout the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. Here, the alphabetic characters following the symbols indicate the respective transmitting and receiving systems,
It is assumed that system A and system B have the same configuration, so
I will explain about the A system. The transmission system includes a TV camera IA, an h/D converter 2A, and a high efficiency encoding circuit 3A.
, a multiplexing circuit 5A and a transmission line interface circuit are connected in tandem, and the reception system includes a reception line interface circuit 9A, a separation circuit 10A, and a high efficiency decoding circuit.

A D/A converter 12A and a television monitor 13A are connected in tandem, and the transmission system and reception system are connected to the transmission line 7A.
, 8A. The camera control port 4A is also connected to five multiplexing circuits, and the control signal from this board 4A is separated by a separation circuit 10A.
The baby is delivered to TV camera 1B.

FIG. 2 is a configuration example of the multiplexing circuit 5A, and the multiplexer 51A
and a parallel-to-serial conversion circuit 52A. A high efficiency encoding circuit 3 is connected to one input side of the multiplexer 51A.
The output side of the camera control port 4A is connected to the other input side via the parallel-to-serial conversion circuit 52A, and the output side of the multiplexer 51A is connected to the input side of the transmission line interface circuit 6A. has been done.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of the separation circuit 10A, in which the separator 101
A and a serial-parallel conversion circuit 102A. One output side of the separator 101A is connected to the input side of the high-efficiency decoding circuit 11A, and the other output side is connected to the television camera 1B via the serial-parallel conversion circuit 102A. The input side of the receiver 101A is connected to the output side of the receiving line interface circuit 9A.

One embodiment configured in this manner will be described.

Note that the fourth factor shows the waveforms in each circuit.

The analog TV signal from one TV camera is A/
It is converted to digital TV No. 15 by two D converters, and the band pressure is controlled by a high-efficiency encoding circuit 3A! ,,i will be done. The band-compressed television signal a is multiplexed by a multiplexing circuit 5A with a camera control signal from a camera control port 4A that controls the television camera 1B on the m-child side, and a frame format is formed by a transmission line interface circuit 6A. It is output to the transmission line 7A. Therefore, transmission line 8A
The transmission line data input from
The signal is separated into a television signal f and a camera control signal. The separated television signal f is band-stretched and decoded by a high-efficiency decoding circuit 11A, converted into a digital analog television signal by a D/A converter 12A, and displayed on a television monitor 13A. On the other hand, the camera control signal is TV camera 1B.
is input to a control terminal (not shown) of the camera, and the television camera 1B is controlled according to the camera control of the other party.

Furthermore, details of the multiplexing circuit 5A and the separating circuit 10A will be explained. In FIG. 2, the 4-bit parallel camera control signals for controlling the shooting position of the television camera, for example, up, down, left and right, from the camera control port 4A are transmitted in parallel.
The serial conversion circuit 52A performs parallel-to-serial conversion, and outputs a serial camera control signal C. This serial camera control signal C and the television signal a from the high-efficiency encoding circuit 3A are connected to a multiplexer 51.
A is multiplexed and multiplexed data d is output to the transmission line interface circuit 6A. In FIG. 3, multiplexed data e from a receiving line interface circuit 9A is separated into a television signal f and a serial camera control signal f by a separator 101A. The television signal f is sent to the high efficiency decoding circuit 11A.
The serial camera control signal 2 is converted into a 4-bit parallel camera control signal by a serial-to-parallel converter 102A to control the photographing position of the television camera 1B, for example, top, bottom, left and right.

In this embodiment, the photographing position of the television camera is controlled vertically, horizontally, or horizontally; however, it is not limited to this, and the exposure, zooming, etc. of the television camera may be adjusted, or the sound of the microphone may be adjusted. You can do it like this.

〔Effect of the invention〕

According to the present invention, by providing a control port that sends control number 41 to control the other party's equipment, each party can freely control the other party's equipment such as cameras using the same line. This makes it possible to fully grasp the overall situation and details of the video conference room, making a great contribution to the progress of the meeting.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a multiplexing circuit, Fig. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a separation circuit, and Fig. 4 is a waveform in each circuit. FIG. IA, IB-φ, TV camera, 2A, 2B...
・・A/D converter, 3A, 3B ・・High-efficiency encoding circuit, 4A, 4B・・Camera nit completion A, 7B
, 8A, 8B-1/9 transmission line, 9A, 9B
...Reception line interface, 10A. 10B...Separation circuit, 11A, 11B...High efficiency decoding circuit, 12A, 12B...D/A converter, 13A, 13B...TV monitor.

Claims (1)

[Claims] Image signals and audio signals obtained from devices such as television cameras and microphones are multiplexed, sent out to the transmission path as information in a predetermined transmission path format, and the information received from the transmission path is framed, and the image and audio signals are multiplexed. In a video conferencing device that separates the signal into signals and sends them to a TV monitor, speakers, etc., there is a control port that sends out a control signal that controls the other party's equipment, and a multiplexing circuit that multiplexes this control signal together with the image signal and audio signal. A video conference equipment control system characterized by comprising a separation circuit that separates this multiplexed control signal together with an image signal and an audio signal, and a device on the other side that receives this control signal and is controlled.