JPS61146083A - Terminal equipment for television conference - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To enable speedy and sure identification of the opposing speaker, mutually, by superimposingly a video signal displaying the user of the microphone of voice input in excess of a prescribed value with the video signal of a TV camera and transmitting the result to the other party. CONSTITUTION:A video signal transmitted from a opposing party terminal equipment via a transmission route is fed to a displayer 5 via an interface part 4, switch 11 and video receiver 1. On the one hand, an image from a TV camera 6 is sent out to a transmission part via a video transmitter 2, multiplexer 9 and interface part 4. Also, a voice input inputted to the microphones 3a, 3b, and 3c are superimposed at the voice part 3 and sent out to the transmission path from the interface part 4. At this point, a speaker display information preparation part 8 monitors the voice input of the microphones 3a-3c and prepares, based on timing from a video signal part 2, a video signal for displaying the user of the microphone with a voice input and transmits the same after multiplexing by a multiplexer 9.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] purpose of invention Industrial applications The present invention relates to a television conference terminal device.

Although various improvements have been made in the past to improve the sense of realism, which is a problem with conventional video conferencing systems, they are still not sufficient.

Problems that the invention aims to solve: In a video conferencing system, the problem is different from that in an actual meeting.
The voices of each speaker on the other party's terminal device are not heard from different directions depending on their position, but are all heard from the direction of the speaker of the own terminal device. Furthermore, if the video signal from the other party's terminal device is only a document signal or a close-up shot of a specific person, the other party's speaker may not be displayed on the screen.

For this reason, it may not be possible to quickly and reliably identify the other party's speaker until the characteristics of the speaking style of the other party's conference participant are grasped, which is one reason for reducing the efficiency of the conference.

Structure of the Invention Means for Solving Problems The video conference terminal device of the present invention, which solves the problems of the prior art described above, converts an image signal indicating a microphone user whose voice input exceeds a predetermined value into a television camera image. By superimposing the message on the message and transmitting it to the other party, it is possible to quickly and reliably identify the speaker of the other party.

The effects of the present invention will be explained in detail below using examples.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a television conference terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, 1 is a video receiving section, 2 is a video transmitting section, 3 is an audio section, 3a, 3b, 3c are microphones, 4 is an interface section, 5 is a video signal display device, 6 is a television camera, and 7 is a speaker. .

8 is a speaker display information creation section, and 9 is a multiplexing section.

The video signal sent from the other party's terminal device via the transmission path is sent to the interface section 4. The signal is supplied to the display device 5 via the switch 11 and the video receiving section 1. On the other hand, the video from the television camera 6 is transmitted to the video transmitter 2. Multiplexing unit 9. The signal is sent out onto the transmission path via the interface section 4. The audio signal from the other party's terminal device is supplied to the speaker 7 via the interface 4 and the audio section 3. On the other hand, microphone 3
The audio inputs input to a, 3b, and 3c are superimposed by the audio section 3 and sent out onto the transmission path via the interface section 4.

The speaker display information creation unit 8 monitors audio input from the microphones 3a to 3C, and receives a video signal from the video signal unit 2 that displays the user of the microphone (hereinafter referred to as the "speaker") from which the audio has been input. It is created based on the timing determined and sent to the multiplexing section 9.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the one-speaker display information creation section 8. As shown in FIG.

In FIG. 2, 20 is a CPTJ, and 21 is a memory.

22a to 22c are audio detection circuits that detect the presence or absence of audio input from microphones 33 to 3C, respectively; 23a to 23C;
is a latch circuit; 24 is a vertical position counter that detects the vertical position of the sending video signal; 25 is a horizontal position counter that detects the horizontal position of the sending video signal; 26 is a video signal generator for displaying the speaker; 27 and 28 are These are interface circuits for input and output, respectively. - The audio detection circuits 22a to 22c are connected to the corresponding microphone 3.
By full-wave rectifying the audio inputs a to 3c and comparing this with a predetermined darkness value, a two-wave signal indicating the presence or absence of audio input is output. This 2-i direct signal is latched by the latch circuits 23a to 24c by the vertical blanking pulse VB supplied from the video transmitter 2, and generates an interrupt to the CPU 20.

For example, if audio input from the microphone 3a is detected, the output from the latch 23a is used.

An interrupt occurs to CPt120. CP TJ 20ba1
It is learned that there is a voice input from the microphone 3a from the input terminal position where the interruption occurred, and the speaker display information related to the microphone 3a registered in the memory 21 is read out.

This speaker display information is composed of 9 display position information and 1 display content information.

The display position information specifies in which range on the screen of the video signal sent from the video transmitter 2 the speaker display information is superimposed.

The CPt 120 detects the sending timing of the 2-display content information by comparing the display position information of the microphone 3a read from the memory 21 with the contents of the vertical position counter 24 and the horizontal position counter 25. Vertical position counter 2
4 displays the vertical position of the video signal within the screen by counting the number of horizontal blanking pulses (TR) after being reset by the vertical blanking pulses VR supplied from the video transmitter 2. Also.

The horizontal position counter 25 receives the horizontal blanking pulse HR
After being reset by , the horizontal position of the video signal within the screen is displayed by counting the pixel frequency PC within the horizontal scanning line.

When the CPU 20 detects that the contents of the vertical position counter 24 and the horizontal position counter 25 are now included in the display range specified by the display position information of the microphone 3a read from the memory 21, After reading out the display contents, the stored display contents are passed to the video signal generation section, and the generation of the corresponding video signal is instructed. The video signal of the display content generated by the video signal generating section 26 is supplied to the multiplexing section 9, where it is multiplexed with the video signal of the television camera B and sent to the other party's terminal device.

The display contents regarding the speaker mentioned above are shown in Sending screen 4 in Figure 3.
As shown in 0, the microphone (
In this example, a mark 41 is displayed or blinked at the position of the microphone 3a). Another example of display content is to display the last name of each microphone user at a predetermined location on the screen in advance, and then make the last name of one speaker blink or change two colors, as shown at 42 in Figure 3. or display a mark similar to the above mark 41 near it.

It causes the light to blink, etc. Displays like 42.

This is also effective in cases where the speaker is not displayed on the screen, such as in document mode.

, the above display position and display contents are based on the keyboard 10 in FIG.
, and is registered in advance in the memory 21 via the input interface circuit 27 shown in FIG. At the time of this registration, a return route within the terminal device is formed by switching the switch 11 as necessary. The user of the terminal device can also perform the above registration while monitoring the conference using the display device 5 before starting the conference.

Although an example has been shown above in which the video signal of the television camera is superimposed by being overwritten with the video signal for displaying the speaker, the latter may be superimposed so as to fit into the former.

For convenience of explanation, an example is given in which the terminal device uses one television camera and one image display device.

It is clear that the two inventions can also be applied when a plurality of cameras, such as portrait cameras and document cameras, are used simultaneously or by switching.

Further, for convenience of explanation, the case where there is one terminal device is illustrated as an example, but it is clear that the present invention can also be applied to cases where there are a plurality of terminal devices of the other party, such as in the case of a conference between three terminals.

Effects of the Invention As explained in detail above, the video conference terminal device of the present invention superimposes a video signal indicating the user of the microphone whose audio input is above a predetermined value on the video signal of the television camera and sends it to the other party. Because of this configuration, it is possible to quickly and reliably identify the speakers on the other side, and the efficiency of the meeting is greatly improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a video conference terminal device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of the speaker display information creation section 8 in FIG. 1, and FIG. is a conceptual diagram for explaining an example of speaker display information. 1...Video receiving section, 2...Video transmitting section, 3...f1
Voice part, 3a, 3b, 3c...Microphone. 4. Interface section, 5. Video signal display device,
6. Television camera, 7. Speaker. 8. Speaker display information creation section, 9. Multiplexing section. 20- ・CPtJ, 21-Memory, 22a ~ 22C
...Audio detection circuit, 23a-23c...Latch circuit 12
4...Vertical position counter, 25...Horizontal position counter,
26...Video signal generator. Patent applicant: NEC Home Electronics Co., Ltd.

Claims (1)

[Claims] In a teleconference terminal device that transmits and receives a television camera image and audio inputs from a plurality of microphones, an image signal indicating a user of a microphone whose audio input exceeds a predetermined value is superimposed on the television camera image and transmitted to the other party's terminal device. A video conference terminal device characterized by: