JP2928181B2 - Audio conference equipment - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an audio conference apparatus, and more particularly, to an audio conference apparatus that enables a wireless terminal to hold an audio conference between multiple points via a telephone line.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional voice conference apparatus used for holding a conference between remote locations through a telephone line naturally requires a telephone line, and a connection between the telephone body and the voice conference apparatus. The installation location of the audio conference device is limited by the length of the telephone cord and cable required for the communication, and the movable range is also limited. Furthermore, only one-to-one communication was performed.

[0003]

In this conventional audio conference apparatus, a telephone line is indispensable, and since the telephone line is wired, there are limitations on the installation location and the movable range of the audio conference apparatus itself. was there.

In addition, since the telephone main body is connected to the audio conference device by using a telephone cord, not only is it troublesome, but also it is difficult to perform communication between a plurality of points.

[0005] It is an object of the present invention to provide a voice conference apparatus in which a multi-point voice conference can be performed by incorporating a wireless terminal in the voice conference apparatus.

[0006]

According to the present invention, in a voice conference apparatus including a speaker, a microphone, and a dial operation unit, a radio unit for transmitting / receiving a radio signal to / from a base station through an antenna, A first earphone microphone terminal, at least one second earphone microphone terminal different from the first earphone microphone terminal, and control means, wherein the control means includes an input from the first earphone microphone terminal; Is output to the second earphone microphone terminal, the wireless unit, and the speaker, and an input from the wireless unit is output to the speaker and the first and second speakers.
And an input / output control for outputting an input from the microphone to the wireless unit and the first and second earphone microphone terminals.

[0007] Further, the first control means is controlled by the control means.
The audio conference apparatus is characterized in that the audio input from the earphone microphone terminal and the audio input from the wireless unit are mixed and output to the speaker and the second earphone microphone terminal.

[0008] Further, under the control of the control means, the input audio from the wireless unit and the input audio from the microphone are mixed and output to the first and second earphone microphone terminals. A device is obtained.

[0009] Further, under the control of the control means, the input sound from the microphone and the input sound from the first earphone microphone terminal are mixed and output to the wireless unit and the second earphone microphone terminal. Is obtained.

Further, there is provided a voice conference apparatus comprising a wireless terminal connected via one of the first and second earphone microphone terminals and controlled in input and output by the control means.

The wireless terminal is a master unit of a portable wireless telephone connected via one of the first and second earphone microphone terminals, and transmits a wireless signal to a slave unit via an antenna. The audio conference apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a wireless unit that performs transmission and reception.

[0012]

Next, the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, the operation of the present invention will be described.
The audio conference apparatus of the present invention includes a microphone, a wireless unit, a plurality of earphone microphone terminals, and control means for mixing the input audio signals from the microphones. If this is the case, the voice conference device can be moved and used, and conference communication can be performed between multiple points.

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a voice conference apparatus according to the present invention. FIGS. 2 (a) and 2 (b) are a perspective view and a rear view showing the appearance of the voice conference apparatus according to this embodiment. (A) And (b) is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process in the receiving side apparatus and the transmitting side apparatus.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, an audio conference apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a speaker 14 and a microphone 1.
3, a dial operation unit 16, an antenna 15, a wireless unit 12 for transmitting and receiving radio waves to and from the base station 2 via the antenna 15, earphone microphone terminals 17 a and 17 b, and a control unit 11.

The control unit 11 outputs the input from the earphone microphone terminal 17a to the earphone microphone terminal 17b, the wireless unit 12, and the speaker 14, and outputs the input from the wireless unit 12 to the speaker 14 and the earphone microphone terminals 17a, 17b. The input from the microphone 13 is transmitted to the wireless unit 12 and the earphone microphone terminal 17.
a, 17b.

That is, the control unit 11 specifically transmits the voice input from the earphone microphone terminal 17a and the radio unit 1
2 and outputs to the speaker 14 and the earphone microphone terminal 17b, and also mixes the input sound from the wireless unit 12 and the input sound from the microphone 13 to the earphone microphone terminals 17a and 17a.
7b, and further performs mixing output control for mixing the input sound from the microphone 13 and the input sound from the earphone microphone terminal 17a and outputting the mixed sound to the wireless unit 12 and the earphone microphone terminal 17b.

The dial operation unit 16 is provided with a call button 1
Various buttons operated by the user, including a numeric keypad 6a and a numeric keypad button 16b, are provided.

In the present embodiment, the number of the earphone microphone terminals is two, but this number may be an arbitrary plural number n.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

First, the operation when the voice conference apparatus is the receiving side is as follows. When a signal radio wave is transmitted from the nearest base station 2, the radio unit 12 of the voice conference apparatus 1 Receive.

When the radio unit 12 demodulates the received radio wave and gives it to the control unit 11, the control unit 11 determines whether there is an incoming call based on the demodulated signal (step S3).
1).

YES in step S31, that is, control unit 1
When 1 recognizes the incoming call, a ringing tone is emitted from the speaker 14 (step S32) to notify the user of the incoming call.

After the user hears the ringing tone, if the user operates the talk button 16a to go off-hook (YES in step S33), the control unit 11 stops the ringing tone from the speaker 14 (step S34). The user is ready to talk with the other party (step S
35).

Therefore, thereafter, the audio signal from the other party is demodulated by the radio unit 12, and the speaker 14 and the earphone microphone terminals 17a, 17b are passed through the control unit 11.
Is output as audio from an earphone speaker (not shown) connected to the speaker.

An audio signal from a microphone 13 and an earphone microphone (not shown) connected to the earphone microphone terminals 17a and 17b by a user is modulated by the radio unit 12 through the control unit 11, and the antenna 1
The radio wave from 5 is transmitted through the base station 2 to the caller of the other party.

Next, the operation when the voice conference apparatus becomes the calling side is performed by the user going off-hook (step S36).
YES), the ten-key button 16 of the dial operation unit 16
Then, the user operates the call button 16a after operating the telephone number b to input the telephone number of the called party, or performs the so-called outgoing dialing of inputting the telephone number of the called party after operating the talk button 16a (step S37). ), The wireless unit 12 modulates this through the control unit 11, and a radio wave is transmitted to the base station 2 through the antenna 15.

Then, if the called party terminal is called from the base station 2 and answered (off-hook), a call between the user (calling party) and the called party becomes possible (step S38).

In the voice conference apparatus on the transmitting side, if a microphone 13 and earphone microphones connected to the earphone microphone terminals 17a and 17b are used, a plurality of users on the transmitting side and the receiving side can hold a voice conference.

Next, a case where a multipoint audio conference is performed using the audio conference apparatus of the present embodiment will be described.

FIG. 4 is a system block diagram of a multipoint audio conference system showing one application example of the audio conference apparatus of the present invention.
An example is shown in which a voice conference is held between three points.

Referring to FIG. 4, a voice conference device 1 shown in FIG. 1 is installed at a point A, and is connected via an earphone microphone terminal and is controlled by the control unit 11 shown in FIG. A terminal 10 is provided. The wireless terminal 10 is, for example, a master unit of a portable wireless telephone, and includes a wireless unit that transmits and receives wireless signals to and from a slave unit via an antenna.

At point B, a general telephone 4 connected to the public switched network 3 via the base station 2 is installed. At point C, a radio signal for transmitting / receiving a radio signal to / from the radio terminal 10 at point A is provided. It is assumed that a telephone (for example, a mobile phone handset) 5 is installed.

In the system configured as described above, the first
Then, the voice conference apparatus 1 at the point A serves as a calling side, dials the telephone number of the general telephone 4 at the point B, calls the general telephone 4 via the base station 2 and the public telephone network 3, and can talk. State.

Second, the user operates the audio conference device 1 at the point A.
The wireless terminal 10 is connected to the earphone microphone terminal of, and the wireless telephone 5 at the point C is called to make a state in which communication is possible. Note that the first and second connection orders may be interchanged.

In such a connection state at three points, the control unit 11 performs control to output a voice signal from the speaker's point to terminals at the other two points, and controls the three points A, B, and C. Voice conferencing of points is possible.

[0038]

As described above, the present invention relates to a voice conference apparatus including a speaker, a microphone, and a dial operation unit, which transmits and receives radio signals to and from a base station through an antenna, A first earphone microphone terminal, at least one second earphone microphone terminal different from the first earphone microphone terminal, and control means. The control means receives an input from the first earphone microphone terminal. 2, an output from the wireless unit to the speaker and the first and second earphone microphone terminals;
By performing input / output control for outputting the input from the microphone to the wireless unit and the first and second earphone microphone terminals, and by controlling the input means from the first earphone microphone terminal and the wireless unit And input to the speaker and the second earphone microphone terminal, and further, the input sound from the wireless unit and the input sound from the microphone are mixed under the control of the control means. By outputting to the second earphone microphone terminal and further mixing the input sound from the microphone and the input sound from the first earphone microphone terminal under the control of the control means, the wireless unit and the second earphone microphone are mixed. Outputting to the terminal eliminates the need for telephone cords and cables, Because if it is within the reach of radio waves user can easily move the voice conference device,
There is no restriction on the place where the audio conference is performed, and the selection range is significantly widened.

[0039] In addition, a wireless terminal connected via one of the first and second earphone microphone terminals and controlled by the control means to input and output is provided. A multi-point radio communication unit, which is a base unit of a portable radio telephone connected via one of the second earphone microphone terminals and which transmits and receives radio signals to and from a sub unit through an antenna. This has the effect of enabling a voice conference.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of a voice conference device of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are a perspective view and a rear view showing an external appearance of the audio conference apparatus according to the embodiment;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are flowcharts showing the flow of processing in a receiving device and a transmitting device.

FIG. 4 is a system block diagram of a multipoint audio conference system showing one application example of the audio conference apparatus of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Voice conference apparatus 2 Base station 3 Public telephone network 4 General telephone 5 Wireless telephone 10 Wireless terminal 11 Control part 12 Wireless unit 13 Microphone 14 Speaker 15 Antenna 16 Dial operation part 16a Talk button 16b Numeric keypad 17a, 17b Earphone microphone terminal

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-61-2469 (JP, A) JP-A-1-300754 (JP, A) JP-A 8-154133 (JP, A) JP-A-6-469 268760 (JP, A) JP-A-6-338928 (JP, A) JP-A-1-198161 (JP, A) JP-A-4-102352 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04M 9/00 H04M 3/56

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] An audio conference apparatus including a speaker, a microphone, and a dial operation unit, a wireless unit that transmits and receives a wireless signal to and from a base station through an antenna, a first earphone microphone terminal, At least one second earphone microphone terminal different from the first earphone microphone terminal; and control means. The control means receives an input from the first earphone microphone terminal to the second earphone microphone terminal. Outputting to the wireless unit and the speaker, outputting the input from the wireless unit to the speaker and the first and second earphone microphone terminals,
An audio conference apparatus for performing input / output control for outputting an input from the microphone to the wireless unit and the first and second earphone microphone terminals. 2. Mixing an input sound from the first earphone microphone terminal and an input sound from the wireless unit under the control of the control means and outputting the result to the speaker and the second earphone microphone terminal. The audio conference device according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the input sound from the wireless unit and the input sound from the microphone and outputs the mixed sound to the first and second earphone microphone terminals. 2. The audio conference device according to 1. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the control unit controls the input sound from the microphone and the input sound from the first earphone microphone terminal to output the mixed sound to the wireless unit and the second earphone microphone terminal. The audio conference device according to claim 1, wherein: 5. The audio conference apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a wireless terminal connected via one of the first and second earphone microphone terminals and controlled by the control unit to input and output. . 6. The wireless terminal is a master unit of a portable wireless telephone connected via one of the first and second earphone microphone terminals, and transmits / receives a wireless signal to / from a slave unit via an antenna. 6. The audio conference apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising a wireless unit for performing the following.