JP6719785B2 - Conference system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a conference system.

The conference system is used, for example, in a conference in which a large number of participants attend, such as an assembly. The conference system includes one control unit, a plurality of discussion units connected to the control unit via communication lines (wired or wireless), a microphone attached to the discussion unit, and an operation terminal connected to the control unit. Composed of.

The control unit manages the operation of each discussion unit and controls the operation of the entire conference system. The discussion unit collects the voice of the user of the discussion unit with a microphone to generate voice information, and transmits the voice information to the control unit.

The operation terminal is a terminal used by a meeting facilitator such as the chairperson to proceed with the meeting, or used by the administrator of the meeting system for setting a control unit or a discussion unit. Information used for the progress of the conference and information used for setting the control unit and the like are input to an input screen displayed on the display unit of the operation terminal (see Non-Patent Document 1, for example).

"User Manual DDS 5900 Digital Discussion System", p.15-24, SHURE incorporated, [online], [February 9, 2016 search], Internet <http://www.shureasia.com/dmsfiles/default/ shure/products/DIS/Brochure/User-Manual-DDS-5900_English>

The items set in the conference system are various, such as items set in the initial stage of the introduction of the conference system, items set immediately before the conference is held, and items set during the conference. The conference system operates based on the contents set in each item. Therefore, the contents set in each item must match. That is, depending on the item, the content of the item to be set later must be determined or restricted according to the content of the item that has already been set.

However, the setter and the set time of each item may be different. Therefore, inconsistencies may occur between the contents set for each item, such as when another item is set without setting the item that should have been set first. Therefore, the conference system may malfunction.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the problems of the conventional techniques as described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a conference system capable of realizing a reliable setting operation with a simple configuration.

The present invention is a conference system, comprising a control unit, a discussion unit, and an operation terminal, the discussion unit transmitting voice information to the control unit, and the operation terminal serving as the control unit. The discussion unit is connected to each of the discussion units via a communication line, the control unit includes a storage unit, the operation terminal includes a display unit, and a control unit, and the storage unit operates between the control unit and the discussion unit. Storing a plurality of control information for controlling the control unit, the display unit displays one input screen of the plurality of input screens to which any of the plurality of control information is input, and the control unit controls the control unit based on a predetermined condition. Then, the input screen displayed on the display unit is selected from the plurality of input screens.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a conference system capable of realizing a reliable setting work with a simple configuration.

1 is a network configuration diagram showing an embodiment of a conference system according to the present invention. It is a functional block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the control unit with which the conference system of FIG. 1 is equipped. 3 is a data structure diagram of a packet transmitted/received by the control unit of FIG. 2. FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of information stored in a storage unit of the control unit of FIG. 2. It is a schematic diagram which shows another information memorize|stored in the memory|storage part of the control unit of FIG. It is a perspective view of the discussion unit with which the conference system of FIG. 1 is equipped. It is a functional block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the discussion unit of FIG. It is a rear view of the discussion unit of FIG. FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the discussion unit of FIG. 6 with a microphone attached. It is a functional block diagram which shows the hardware constitutions of the operating terminal with which the conference system of FIG. 1 is equipped. It is a flowchart which shows the information processing of the conference system concerning this invention provided with one control unit. 12 is a flowchart showing information processing of the control unit in the initialization processing of information processing of FIG. 11. It is a sequence diagram which shows the information processing of the conference system in the initialization process of FIG. FIG. 13 is another sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system in the initialization processing of FIG. 12. FIG. 13 is still another sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system in the initialization process of FIG. 12. FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing an example of information stored in the storage unit of the control unit after the initialization processing of FIG. 12. 12 is a flowchart showing information processing of the control unit in the DU information acquisition processing of information processing of FIG. 11. It is a sequence diagram which shows the information processing of the conference system in the DU information acquisition process of FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of the information memorize|stored in the memory|storage part of the control unit after the DU information acquisition process of FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing information processing of the control unit in the DU setting processing of information processing of FIG. 11. It is a sequence diagram which shows the information processing of the conference system in the DU setting process of FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing information processing of the control unit in the operation processing of information processing of FIG. 11. FIG. 23 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system in the operation processing of FIG. 22. FIG. 23 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system when the connection state of the discussion unit is changed in the operation process of FIG. 22. 23 is a flowchart showing information processing of the control unit in the change processing of the operation processing of FIG. 22. It is a sequence diagram which shows the information processing of the conference system as an example of the initialization process in the change process of FIG. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of the information memorize|stored in the memory|storage part of the control unit after the change process of FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing information processing of the control unit in the request processing of the operation processing of FIG. 22. It is a sequence diagram which shows the information processing of the conference system in the request process of FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing another information processing of the control unit in the request processing of the operation processing of FIG. 22. It is a flow chart which shows information processing of the conference system concerning the present invention provided with a plurality of control units. It is a sequence diagram which shows the information processing of the conference system in the CU connection state confirmation processing of the information processing of FIG. FIG. 32 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system in the slave CU information acquisition processing of information processing of FIG. 31. FIG. 32 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system in the slave DU initialization processing of the information processing of FIG. 31. FIG. 32 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system in the slave DU information acquisition processing of information processing of FIG. 31. FIG. 36 is a schematic diagram showing an example of information stored in the storage unit of the control unit after the slave DU information acquisition process of FIG. 35. FIG. 32 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system in the DB information acquisition processing of the slave CU of information processing of FIG. 31. FIG. 32 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system in the slave DU setting processing of information processing of FIG. 31. 32 is a flowchart showing information processing of the control unit in the priority resetting process of the control unit included in the conference system of FIG. 31. It is a schematic diagram which shows the example of the conference mode with which the conference system of FIG. 1 is equipped. 41 is a flowchart showing information processing for selecting a conference mode of the conference system of FIG. 40. 42 is a flowchart showing information processing of the control unit in the free talk mode of the conference mode of FIG. 41. 42 is a flowchart showing information processing of the control unit in the request talk mode of the conference mode of FIG. 41. 42 is a flowchart showing information processing of the control unit in the full remote mode of the conference mode of FIG. 41. It is a schematic diagram which shows the selection screen of the input screen displayed on the display part of the operating terminal with which the conference system of FIG. 1 is equipped. It is a schematic diagram of the initial screen which is an example of the input screen of FIG. It is a schematic diagram of the preparation screen which is another example of the input screen of FIG. It is a schematic diagram of the preparation screen after information input in the preparation screen of FIG. It is a schematic diagram of the progress screen which is another example of the input screen of FIG.

● Conference system (1) ●
Hereinafter, an embodiment of a conference system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Configuration of Conference System FIG. 1 is a network configuration diagram showing an embodiment of the conference system according to the present invention.
The conference system S is used, for example, in a conference in which a large number of participants attend, such as an assembly. The conference system S facilitates the progress of the conference and creates the minutes of the conference. The conference system S includes a control unit (hereinafter referred to as “CU”) 1A-1C, a discussion unit (hereinafter referred to as “DU”) 2A1-2A4, 2B1-2B4, 2C1-2C4, and microphones 3A1-3A4, 3B1-. 3B4, 3C1-3C4 and the operation terminal 4 are included.

The configurations of CU1A-1C are all the same. The configurations of DU2A1-2A4, 2B1-2B4, 2C1-2C4 are all the same. The microphones 3A1-3A4, 3B1-3B4, 3C1-3C4 all have the same configuration.

In the following description, when it is not necessary to distinguish each of the CU1A-1C, they are collectively referred to as "CU1". When it is not necessary to distinguish between the DU2A1-2A4, 2B1-2B4, and 2C1-2C4, they are collectively referred to as "DU2". When it is not necessary to distinguish between the microphones 3A1-3A4, 3B1-3B4, 3C1-3C4, they are collectively referred to as "microphone 3".

Note that the number of CU1s and the number of DUs 2 that configure the conference system S are not limited to the present embodiment. That is, for example, the number of DU2s connected to each CU1 may be different.

Connection Method of DU to CU Next, a connection method of a plurality of DU2s to CU1 will be described.
The plurality of DUs 2 are connected to the CU 1 by any one of a ring connection method (hereinafter referred to as “ring connection”) and a daisy chain connection method (hereinafter referred to as “daisy connection”).

The ring connection is a connection method in which a plurality of DUs 2 are connected to the CU 1 in an annular shape. For example, DU2A1-2A4 is connected to CU1A by a ring connection. When the DU2 is connected to the CU1 by a ring connection, two terminals of the unit connecting portion of the CU1 described later are used.

The daisy connection is a connection method in which a plurality of DUs 2 are connected to the CU 1 in a daisy chain. For example, DU2C1-2C4 is connected to CU1C by a daisy connection. When the DU2 is connected to the CU1 by daisy connection, one terminal of the unit connecting portion of the CU1 described later is used.

The mode of connection between CU1 and DU2 is not limited to this embodiment. That is, for example, a plurality of DUs 2 may be connected to one CU 1 in a mixture of two connection methods of ring connection and daisy connection. That is, one DU2 may be ring-connected to CU1 and another DU2 may be daisy-connected to the same CU1.

Connection between CUs Next, connection between CUs 1 will be described.
The three CU1s are connected by a daisy connection. For example, CU1B and CU1C are connected to CU1A by daisy connection. In this case, for example, CU1A is set as a master, and CU1B and CU1C are set as slaves. The master and slave will be described later.

The power supply to each CU1 is individually performed via an AC adapter or the like. That is, the power is not supplied between the CUs 1. Therefore, each CU 1 can be installed in the conference system S at locations physically separated from each other without being restricted by the power supply.

Configuration of CU FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing the hardware configuration of CU1.
The CU1 controls the operation of the DU2 and the operation of the entire conference system S. The CU 1 includes a communication unit 11, a connection unit 12, a storage unit 13, a display unit 14, an operation unit 15, and a control unit 16.

The communication unit 11 realizes communication with other CU1, DU2, the operation terminal 4, the external device 5, and the like via the connection unit 12. The communication unit 11 performs communication based on, for example, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.3.

Communication between the CU1 and the DU2, between the master CU1 and the slave CU1, and the like are performed by transmitting and receiving packets. The packet includes a header part and a data part.

FIG. 3 is a data structure diagram of a packet.
The header part includes an address used for communication and a counter flag described later. The data section includes an area for storing a control command, voice information, unit information described later, and a request flag described later. The control command is a command in which the CU1 gives an instruction to the DU2, a command in which the master CU1 gives an instruction to the slave CU1, and the like. The data section does not include a control command when there is no instruction from CU1 to DU2, or when there is no instruction from master CU1 to slave CU1. The voice information is information generated by the DU 2 based on the voice signal from the microphone 3. The voice information is stored in the data part of the packet transmitted from DU2 to CU1.

The data section includes a plurality of areas (hereinafter, referred to as “voice areas”) in which voice information is stored. The voice region is a frame that defines the number of DUs 2 that can be simultaneously spoken among the plurality of DUs 2 included in the conference system S. The number of voice areas included in the data section is the same as the maximum number of speakers set, which will be described later. The CU 1 assigns individual numbers (for example, 1, 2, 3,...) To each voice area. Details of the audio area will be described later.

Returning to FIG.
The connection unit 12 is an interface for connecting the other CU1, DU2, the operation terminal 4, the external device 5, and the like. The connection unit 12 includes an external device connection unit 12a and a unit connection unit 12b.

The external device connection unit 12a is, for example, an interface that connects the operation terminal 4, the external device 5, the communication device, and the like. The external device connection unit 12a is, for example, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) terminal, a network terminal, an analog input/output terminal, or the like. The external device 5 is, for example, a USB memory, a microphone, a speaker, a translation system, or the like. The communication device is a hub, a router, a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) access point, or the like.

The unit connecting portion 12b is an interface connected to another CU1 or DU2. The unit connecting portion 12b includes, for example, a first terminal, a second terminal, a third terminal, and a fourth terminal. The first terminal and the second terminal are connection terminals that can be connected only to the DU 2, for example. The third terminal and the fourth terminal are, for example, connection terminals that can be connected to any of the other CU1 and DU2.

The configuration of the terminals of the unit connecting portion 12b is not limited to this embodiment. That is, for example, the number of terminals may be “6”.

The storage unit 13 stores information necessary for the CU 1 and the DU 2 to realize information processing described later. The storage unit 13 is configured by temporarily storing (storing) various information and programs, a RAM (Read Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a hard disk, and the like.

The information stored in the storage unit 13 is, for example, control information for controlling the operation of the conference system S such as the operation of the CU1 and the DU2. The control information includes, for example, unit setting information, unit connection information, information on system setting of the conference system S described later, a speech request list, and the like.

The unit setting information is, for example, information regarding the setting of the DU2 connected to the CU1 in the past. The unit setting information includes, for example, parameter information and mode information. The unit setting information is stored in a unit setting information database (hereinafter referred to as “unit setting information DB”).

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of information stored in the unit setting information DB.
The unit setting information DB is, for example, a database in which an absolute ID composed of a serial number of DU2 and unit setting information of DU2 are stored in association with each other. The unit setting information of the DU2 is stored in the unit setting information DB via the CU1 by the system administrator, for example. At this time, the unit setting information of DU2 is associated with the absolute ID of DU2 and stored in the unit setting information DB.

FIG. 4 shows that, for example, the absolute ID “A” and the unit setting information “X1” are associated and stored in the unit setting information DB.

The parameter information includes, for example, setting information of the microphone 3 attached to the DU 2 (for example, equalizer setting, volume setting, etc.), information regarding a light emitting state of the light emitting unit 28 described later, and priority setting information described later. ..

The mode information is information regarding the operating state of each DU2. The information on the operating state includes, for example, a conference mode described later and a microphone on trigger described later.

The unit connection information is information regarding the connection of DU2 connected to CU1. The unit connection information is information regarding the connection method of the DU2 connected to the CU1 and the number of connected units. The unit connection information is stored in a unit connection information database (hereinafter referred to as “unit connection information DB”).

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing information stored in the unit connection information DB.
The unit connection information DB is a database that stores information regarding the connection of DU2 connected to CU1. The unit connection information DB is created each time the CU1 is activated. The "terminal number" is the number of the terminal of the unit connecting portion 12b. The “connection method” indicates the connection method of the DU 2 to the four terminals of the unit connection portion 12b. "Number of units" is the number of DU2s connected to each terminal. The “relative ID” is an ID relatively assigned to each DU 2 (for example, consecutive numbers starting from 1). The "absolute ID" is an ID that is absolutely assigned to each DU2.

In FIG. 5, for example, the terminal number "1", the connection method "ring", the number "4", the relative ID "1"... "4", and the absolute ID "A"... "D". And are associated and stored in the unit connection information DB. The figure shows that the relative IDs “1”, “2”, “3”, and “4” are stored in the unit connection information DB in association with the absolute IDs “A”, “B”, “C”, and “D”. ..

Returning to FIG.
The display unit 14 displays, for example, the volume, recording status, preset pattern, alarm information, etc. of the entire conference system S. The display unit 14 is, for example, a display represented by an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) or an organic EL (Organic Electroluminescence).

The operation unit 15 changes the display content displayed on the display unit 14. The operation unit 15 is composed of, for example, a dial and buttons.

The control unit 16 controls the operation of the CU1, controls the operation of the DU2 connected to the CU1, and calculates and processes information. The control unit 16 controls the operations of the communication unit 11, the storage unit 13, the display unit 14, and the operation unit 15. The control unit 16 includes, for example, a microprocessor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and its peripheral circuits.

For example, when CU1B and CU1C are connected to CU1A as shown in FIG. 1, if CU1A is the master, the control unit 16 of CU1A controls the operations of CU1B and CU1C, and the operations of DU2B1-2B4 and DU2C1-2C4. Also controls. That is, the control unit 16 of the master CU1 also controls the operation of the slave CU1 and the operation of the DU2 connected to the slave CU1.

●Configuration of DU FIG. 6 is a perspective view of DU2.
FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram showing the hardware configuration of DU2.
FIG. 8 is a rear view of DU2.

The DU2 generates voice information based on the voice signal input from the microphone 3 and transmits the voice information to the CU1, and at the same time, outputs synthesized voice information (voice information transmitted from another DU2 to the CU1) described below from the CU1. It receives and outputs sound waves. The DU2 is assigned to each participant of the conference, for example. The DU2 is connected to the CU1 and another DU2 via a communication line. The DU 2 includes a housing 20, a communication unit 21, a connection unit 22, a storage unit 23, a display unit 24, an operation unit 25, a control unit 26, a speaker 27, and a light emitting unit 28. It becomes.

The housing 20 houses a communication unit 21, a storage unit 23, a control unit 26, and a speaker 27. The housing 20 includes at least a first surface 20a and a second surface 20b.

The first surface 20a is arranged on the front side of the housing 20. The first surface 20a is arranged at a position visible to a user of the DU2 (hereinafter referred to as "user") when the DU2 is used. The first surface 20a includes a plurality of emission holes 20ah.

The emission hole 20ah emits a sound wave from the speaker 27 to the outside of the DU2. The emission hole 20ah is arranged on the first surface 20a.

The second surface 20b is arranged on the back surface side of the housing 20. The second surface 20b is arranged at a position (such as the back surface of the DU2) visible to the user of the other DU2 (hereinafter referred to as "third party") when the DU2 is used.

The communication unit 21 realizes communication with the CU1. The communication unit 21 performs, for example, communication conforming to IEEE802.3. The information transmitted and received by the communication unit 21 is, for example, voice information generated based on a voice signal from the microphone 3, unit setting information, voice information from another DU 2, and the like.

The connection unit 22 is connected to the CU 1, another DU 2, a microphone 3, and the like. The connecting portion 22 includes a socket portion 22a and a unit connecting portion 22b. The socket portion 22a is a socket to which the microphone 3 is connected. The socket portion 22a is, for example, a socket for a 3-pin plug defined in JEITA RC-5236 "Latch lock type circular connector for audio equipment". The socket portion 22a is arranged on the first surface 20a.

The unit connection unit 22b is an interface connected to the CU1 or another DU2. The unit connecting portion 22b includes two terminals. Both of the two terminals are connected to CU1 or another DU2 except for DU2 which is the terminal of the daisy connection. Transmission and reception of information between the two terminals is controlled by the communication unit 21.

The storage unit 23 stores information necessary for the DU 2 to realize the information processing described later. The storage unit 23 is composed of, for example, a RAM or a ROM. The storage unit 23 stores the unit setting information and the like received by the communication unit 21. The unit setting information stored in the storage unit 23 is, for example, parameter information of the DU 2 or information for determining the light emitting state of the light emitting unit 28 described later.

The display unit 24 displays, for example, a volume of headphones (not shown) connected to the DU 2 or a channel of a sub voice (for example, a voice of an interpreter). The display unit 24 is a display represented by, for example, an LCD or an organic EL. The display unit 24 is arranged on the first surface 20 a of the housing 20.

The operation unit 25 outputs a detection signal according to the user's operation to the control unit 26. The operation unit 25 includes an operation button 25a, a volume control button 25b, and a channel change button 25c. The operation unit 25 is arranged on the first surface 20 a of the housing 20.

The operation button 25a is pressed by the user, for example, when the user makes a speech request to be described later. The volume adjustment button 25b is operated by the user when the user adjusts the volume of headphones or the like connected to the DU 2. The channel change button 25c is operated by the user, for example, when changing the channel of the sub voice (interpretation, etc.).

The control unit 26 processes the audio signal from the microphone 3, controls the operation of the DU 2, generates audio information, and the like. The control unit 26 controls the operations of the communication unit 21, the storage unit 23, the display unit 24, the operation unit 25, the speaker 27, and the light emitting unit 28. The control unit 26 includes, for example, a microprocessor such as a CPU and its peripheral circuits.

The speaker 27 converts the sound signal from the communication unit 21 into a sound wave and outputs the sound wave. The sound wave from the speaker 27 is emitted to the outside of the DU 2 from the emission hole 20ah of the first surface 20a.

The light emitting unit 28 uses light to notify the status information, and thus emits light based on a signal from the control unit 26. The light emitting unit 28 is, for example, a multi-color LED (Light-emitting diode). That is, the light emitting unit 28 can emit light in a plurality of colors. The light emitting unit 28 includes a first light emitting unit 28a and a second light emitting unit 28b.

The status information is, for example, information indicating the operating state of the microphone 3 such as on/off of the microphone 3, information indicating the operating state of the DU 2 such as information indicating whether or not a speech request described later is being executed, and group information described later. And so on. The utterance request is a request to turn on the microphone 3 in order to enable the user to speak. The utterance request is issued from DU2 to CU1.

The first light emitting unit 28a notifies the user of status information. The first light emitting unit 28a is arranged on the operation button 25a.

The second light emitting unit 28b notifies the third party of status information. The second light emitting unit 28b is arranged on the second surface 20b of the housing 20. That is, the second light emitting unit 28b can be visually recognized by a third party.

The light emitting state of the light emitting unit 28 is controlled by the control unit 26 based on the unit setting information. The light emitting state of the light emitting unit 28 includes a light emitting pattern and a light emitting color. The light emitting state of the light emitting unit 28 is stored in the storage unit 23 as unit setting information. The light emission pattern includes an extinguishing pattern, a lighting pattern, a blinking pattern, and a dimmer (dimming) lighting pattern.

The emission color is selected from, for example, 10 colors set in advance by the system administrator or the like. The light emitting unit 28 can display, for example, group information due to the difference in the light emission color. The group information is, for example, information indicating the contents of grouping based on the affiliation (country, political party, etc.) of participants such as conferences, the language of the participants, and the priority level described later. Therefore, for example, the system administrator can easily change the setting based on the emission color of the second light emitting unit 28b.

Power to the DU2 is supplied from the CU1 to which each DU2 is connected via a communication line cable.

●Structure of Microphone FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the DU 2 to which the microphone 3 is attached.
The microphone 3 picks up a user's voice (sound wave). That is, the microphone 3 converts a sound wave into an electric signal. The microphone 3 is, for example, a gooseneck type condenser microphone. The directivity of the microphone 3 is, for example, unidirectional. The microphone 3 is attached to the socket portion 22a of the DU 2. The power of the microphone 3 is supplied from the DU 2 by, for example, a phantom power supply. The microphone 3 picks up voice and outputs a voice signal in the “on” state, and does not pick up voice in the “off” state.

The microphone 3 may include, for example, a monochrome LED ring. In this case, the power of the LED ring is supplied from DU2 via the socket portion 22a of DU2.

Configuration of Operation Terminal FIG. 10 is a functional block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the operation terminal 4.
The operation terminal 4 is a terminal for operating the conference system S, setting CU1, setting DU2, remote controlling CU1 and DU2, and the like. The setting of the CU1 and the setting of the DU2 are performed, for example, by the system administrator or the chairperson of the conference operating the operation terminal 4.

The operation terminal 4 is a general-purpose information processing device such as a PC (Personal Computer), a tablet terminal, or a smartphone. The operation terminal 4 is connected to the CU1 via a communication line and is connected to the DU2 via the CU1 and the communication line. The operation terminal 4 includes a communication unit 41, a storage unit 43, a display unit 44, an operation unit 45, and a control unit 46.

The communication unit 41 realizes communication with the CU1. The communication unit 41 is an interface connected to the CU 1 via a communication network such as a LAN and a WAN (Wide Area Network).

The storage unit 43 stores information necessary for the operation terminal 4 to realize information processing described later. The storage unit 43 includes, for example, a RAM, a ROM, a hard disk, and the like. The information stored in the storage unit 43 is various databases read from the CU 1, a speech request list described later, and the like.

The display unit 44 displays an operation screen of the conference system S, various databases, an utterance request list, and the like according to an instruction (control) from the control unit 46. The display unit 44 is, for example, a display such as an LCD.

The operation unit 45 outputs a detection signal corresponding to the operation of the operation terminal 4 by a system administrator or the like to the control unit 46. The operation unit 45 is, for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a software keyboard, or the like.

The control unit 46 controls the operation of the operation terminal 4. The control unit 46 includes, for example, a microprocessor such as a CPU and its peripheral circuits.

The operation terminal 4 may be a terminal dedicated to the conference system instead of a general-purpose information processing terminal.

The conference system S may include at least the CU1, the DU2, and the microphone 3. That is, for example, the conference system S does not have to include the operation terminal 4.

Priority Priority is, for example, information set by the system administrator for each DU2 via the CU1, and is a so-called priority authority regarding the restriction of the function of the DU2. The voice slot and the above-mentioned voice area are always assigned to the DU 2 to which the priority is set, and the DU 2 is controlled to be able to speak. The DU 2, which is controlled to be able to speak, can turn on the microphone 3 to transmit voice information to the CU 1. The priority setting for each DU 2 that can speak is stored in the unit setting information DB of the storage unit 13.

The voice slot is, so to speak, a frame that defines the number of DU2s that can simultaneously speak among the plurality of DUs 2 included in the conference system S. The conference system S has the same number of voice slots as the maximum number of speakers to be described later, that is, the same number as the number of voice regions described above. The conference system S assigns individual numbers (for example, 1, 2, 3,...) To each voice slot. The voice slot is provided in the control unit 16 of the CU 1, for example.

The CU1 allocates a voice slot and a voice region for each DU2 that permits speech. That is, the CU 1 assigns a voice slot number and a voice region number to each DU 2 that permits speech. The DU 2 to which the voice slot and the voice area are assigned can speak. The CU 1 stores the number assigned to the voice slot and the number assigned to the voice area in the storage unit 13 in association with each other. The CU 1 assigns a voice slot and a voice region to the DU 2, associates the assigned voice slot number and the voice region number, and performs a voice information synthesizing process described later.

A plurality of audio areas included in the data portion of one packet are assigned to different DUs 2, respectively. In other words, CU1 receives one packet in which audio information from a plurality of DU2 is stored. The CU1 is the number of the voice area in which the voice information is stored, and identifies the DU2 that generated the voice information. CU1 identifies the number assigned to the voice slot based on the number assigned to the voice area. That is, the CU 1 specifies the voice slot and the voice region corresponding to each DU 2 that can speak using the number of the voice slot and the number of the voice region. The CU1 receives the audio information stored in the audio area of the received packet via the audio slot corresponding to the audio area. The CU1 transmits the audio information received from a certain DU2 to all the DU2s connected to the CU1 including the DU2.

The conference system S limits the number of DUs 2 that can simultaneously speak in order to reduce the information processing load of the conference system S and the network traffic. The maximum number of DUs 2 that can be simultaneously uttered (hereinafter referred to as “maximum speaker set number”) is determined based on, for example, the setting of the CU 1 serving as a master. The maximum number of speakers set does not depend on the number of connected CUs 1 and is determined to be a predetermined number within the conference system S. As described above, the DU2 capable of speaking is the DU2 to which the voice slot and the voice region are assigned.

The number of DU2s to which priority is set (DU2s that can always speak) is set smaller than the maximum number of speakers set. This is because the conference system S secures a space between the voice slot and the voice area so that the utterance request from the DU 2 for which the priority is not set can be accepted.

The priority authority of the DU 2 to which the priority is set is divided into four priority levels of a first authority, a second authority, a third authority, and a fourth authority. These authorities are determined, for example, by a combination of whether or not other DUs 2 can be collectively muted and whether or not they can be collectively muted by other DUs 2.

The first authority is a priority authority that can be collectively muted and is not a target of collective mute. The first authority is the highest authority and is set, for example, in DU2 assigned to the chairperson of the conference or the like. The second authority is a priority authority that can be collectively muted and that is subject to collective mute. The second authority is set, for example, in DU2 assigned to the vice-chairperson of the conference or the like. The third authority is a priority authority that cannot be collectively muted and is not a target of collective mute. The fourth authority is a priority authority that cannot be collectively muted and that is subject to collective mute.

As described above, in the conference system according to the present invention, the breakdown of priority can be appropriately set according to the authority of the user of DU2.

●Conference system operation●
Next, the operation of the conference system S will be described. The operation of the conference system S, that is, the information processing executed by the conference system S is partially different depending on whether there is one CU1 or a plurality of CU1s.

●Conference system operation with one CU●
First, the operation of the conference system S including one CU will be described.

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing information processing of the conference system S including one CU.
After starting the conference system S, the conference system S executes an initialization process (S1), a DU information acquisition process (S2), a DU setting process (S3), and an operation process (S4).

In the conference system S, the CU 1 transmits a packet from all the terminals of the unit connecting section 12b. Therefore, in the case of the ring connection, the packet is transmitted to DU2 from both directions of the two terminals to which DU2 is connected. In the following description, the forward direction is the direction in which packets flow from the terminal with the smallest number in the terminals of CU1 that are ring-connected to the terminal with the largest number. The reverse direction is the direction opposite to the forward direction.

Information of various packets received by each terminal is combined by the control unit 16 of the CU 1. At this time, in the case of the ring connection, the information from one of the terminals is muted (ignored) and is not used for the synthesis by the control unit 16. Therefore, duplication due to composition of information from both directions is eliminated.

The DU 2 receives the packet at one of the two terminals (referred to as “a”) and transmits the packet from the other terminal (referred to as “b”). The terminal (b) that transmits packets in the forward direction receives packets in the reverse direction, and the terminal (a) that receives packets in the forward direction transmits packets in the reverse direction.

Hereinafter, each process of FIG. 11 will be described by taking the CU 1A of FIG. 1 and the DU 2A1-2A4 connected to the CU 1A as an example. DU2A1 is connected to the first terminal of CU1A, and DU2A4 is connected to the second terminal of CU1A.

Initialization process First, the conference system S performs an initialization process (S1). In the initialization process (S1), the conference system S recognizes the unit setting (information) of the DU2 connected to the CU1 and the connection method of the DU2 connected to the CU1 and the number of connected units ( It is a process to specify).

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing information processing of CU1A in the initialization processing (S1).
FIG. 13 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system S in the initialization processing (S1).

The control unit 16 of the CU 1A transmits an initialization command for initializing the DU 2A1-2A4 to the communication unit 11. The communication unit 11 transmits an initialization packet carrying (including) an initialization command from the first terminal to the DU 2A1 (S11a). As described above, the packet includes the counter flag in the head portion. The counter flag is information in which the count value is incremented (“1” is added) by the DU2 that receives the packet every time the packet is transmitted to the DU2. The control unit 16 resets the count value of the counter flag included in the packet transmitted to the DU 2 in order to initialize it. That is, the count value of the counter flag of the initialization packet transmitted from CU1A to DU2A1 is "0".

Upon receiving the initialization packet, the DU 2A1 initializes the unit setting according to the initialization command, that is, updates the unit setting information in the storage unit 23 to the initial value. The control unit 26 of the DU 2A1 that has received the initialization packet increments the count value of the counter flag (S12a). The communication unit 21 of the DU2A1 transmits an initialization packet in which the count value of the counter flag is “1” to the DU2A2.

Upon receiving the initialization packet, the DU 2A2 initializes the unit setting according to the initialization command, that is, updates the unit setting information in the storage unit 23 to the initial value. The control unit 26 of the DU2A2 that has received the initialization packet increments the count value of the counter flag (S13a). The communication unit 21 of the DU2A2 transmits an initialization packet in which the count value of the counter flag is “2” to the DU2A3.

Upon receiving the initialization packet, the DU 2A3 initializes the unit setting according to the initialization command, that is, updates the unit setting information in the storage unit 23 to the initial value. The control unit 26 of the DU 2A3 that has received the initialization packet increments the count value of the counter flag (S14a). The communication unit 21 of the DU2A3 transmits an initialization packet in which the count value of the counter flag is "3" to the DU2A4.

Upon receiving the initialization packet, the DU 2A4 initializes the unit setting according to the initialization command, that is, updates the unit setting information in the storage unit 23 to the initial value. The control unit 26 of the DU 2A4 that has received the initialization packet increments the count value of the counter flag (S15a). The communication unit 21 of the DU2A4 transmits the initialization packet having the count value of the counter flag of "4" to the second terminal of the CU1A.

The communication unit 11 receives the initialization packet from the DU 2A4 via the second terminal (S16a).

As described above, in the case of ring connection, the initialization packet (the initial value of the counter flag is “0”) is also transmitted from the second terminal in the reverse direction.

FIG. 14 is another sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system S in the initialization processing (S1).
The initialization packet is transmitted in the reverse direction from the second terminal of CU1A to the first terminals of DU2A4, DU2A3, DU2A2, DU2A1, and CU1.

The communication unit 11 transmits the initialization packet carrying the initialization command from the second terminal to the DU 2A4 (S11b).

The DU 2A4 initializes the unit setting and increments the count value of the counter flag (S12b). The DU 2A3 initializes the unit setting and increments the count value of the counter flag (S13b). The DU 2A2 initializes the unit setting and increments the count value of the counter flag (S14b). The DU 2A1 initializes the unit setting and increments the count value of the counter flag (S15b).

The communication unit 11 receives the initialization packet from the DU 2A1 via the first terminal (S16b).

The control unit 16 stores information such as the count value of the counter flag included in the initialization packet received by the communication unit 11 in the storage unit 13.

FIG. 15 is a sequence diagram showing information processing after receiving the initialization packet of the conference system S in the initialization processing (S1).

The control unit 16 recognizes the connection state of the DU 2 for each terminal, that is, the connection method and the number of connected DU 2 (S17). The connection method of the DU 2 is recognized by, for example, whether or not the terminals of the unit connection unit 12b that transmitted and received the packet match (the terminal numbers are different). That is, when the terminal that transmitted the packet matches the terminal that received the packet, the connection method of DU2 is daisy connection. On the other hand, when the terminal that transmitted the packet and the terminal that received the packet do not match, the connection method of DU2 is ring connection. For example, as described above, the forward direction initialization packet for DU2A1-2A4 is transmitted from the first terminal of CU1A and received at the second terminal. That is, the terminal number from which CU1A has transmitted the initialization packet does not match (is different from) the terminal number from which CU1A has received the initialization packet. On the other hand, even in the case of transmitting and receiving the initialization packet in the reverse direction, the terminal (second terminal) number from which CU1A has transmitted the initialization packet does not match the terminal (first terminal) number from which CU1A has received the initialization packet (different). ). Therefore, the control unit 16 recognizes that the connection method of the DUs 2A1-2A4 is the ring connection.

The number of connected DU2s is recognized by the count value of the counter flag of the initialization packet transmitted/received by all the terminals. That is, for example, the initialization packet transmitted between the first terminal and the second terminal of CU1A returns to CU1A when the count value of the counter flag is "4". Therefore, the control unit 16 recognizes that the number of DUs 2 connected between the first terminal and the second terminal is “4”. As described above, the counter flag included in the packet is used to count the number of DU2s connected to CU1.

When the control unit 16 recognizes the connection method and the number of connected DUs 2, the control unit 16 generates an ID for each DU 2 (hereinafter referred to as "relative ID") (S18). Relative IDs are numbered, for example, in order from DU2 connected to the unit connection part 12b with the smaller terminal number, and assigned to each DU2. That is, for example, the relative ID of DU2A1 is "1" and the relative ID of DU2A4 is "4".

The control unit 16 associates the recognized connection method of the DU 2, the number of connected units, and the assigned relative ID with each other and stores them in the unit connection information DB of the storage unit 13 (S19).

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram showing information stored in the storage unit 13 of the CU 1 after the initialization process (S1).
The figure shows that the third terminal and the fourth terminal of the CU1 are in an unconnected state where they are not connected to the DU2.

When the connection method of DU2 is daisy connection, the terminal DU2 determines that it is the terminal itself because there is no reception from one of the two terminals of the same DU2. The terminal DU 2 attaches a flag (hereinafter, referred to as a “return flag”) indicating that the initialization packet is returned, and returns the initialization packet. That is, the DU 2 bidirectionally transmits and receives information regardless of the connection method. The DU2 does not increment the count value of the counter flag of the initialization packet to which the loopback flag is added.

At this time, the control unit 16 recognizes the number of connected DUs 2 based on the count value of the counter flag. The control unit 16 recognizes that the connection method of the DU 2 is daisy connection because the terminal numbers of the unit connection unit 12b that transmitted and received the initialization packet match.

● DU information acquisition process Return to FIG.
Next, the conference system S executes a DU information acquisition process (S2). The DU information acquisition process (S2) is a process of acquiring the unit information of DU2. The unit information is a serial number (absolute ID) of the DU 2 or a MAC (Media Access Control) address. In the following description, the process in the forward direction is the same as the process in the reverse direction, and thus the description of the process in the reverse direction is omitted.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing information processing of CU1A in the DU information acquisition process (S2).
FIG. 18 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system S in the DU information acquisition process (S2).

The control unit 16 transmits an information acquisition command for acquiring the unit information of the DU 2A1-2A4 to the communication unit 11. The communication unit 11 transmits the information acquisition packet carrying the information acquisition command to each DU 2A1-1A4 (S21a-S21d). The information acquisition packet is addressed by a relative ID. Therefore, only the addressed DU2 receives the information acquisition packet.

Each DU2A1-2A4 that has received the information acquisition command transmits an information acquisition packet carrying unit information to the CU1A according to the information acquisition command (S22a-S22d).

The communication unit 11 receives the information acquisition packet from each DU 2A1-2A4 (S23a-S23d).

The control unit 16 reads the unit information from the information acquisition packet received by the communication unit 11. The control unit 16 acquires the absolute ID from the unit information (S24). The control unit 16 stores the acquired absolute ID and relative ID in association with each other in the unit connection information DB of the storage unit 13 (S25). Since the control unit 16 has acquired the absolute ID, it is possible to address the DU2 using the absolute ID in the processes after the DU information acquisition process (S2).

In the DU information acquisition process (S2), when a newly connected DU2 exists, the control unit 16 reads the unit setting information DB from the storage unit 13, and acquires the absolute ID of the DU2 and the setting information (initial value). Value) and are associated with each other and stored in the unit setting information DB.

FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram showing information stored in the storage unit 13 of the CU 1 after the DU information acquisition process.
In the figure, the relative IDs "1", "2", "3" and "4" of the four DUs 2 ring-connected to the terminal numbers "1" and "2" are the absolute IDs "A""B""C"" D”.

By associating the absolute ID and the relative ID, the CU 1 can inform the system administrator or the like of information indicating which relative ID is connected to the DU 2 of which absolute ID via the operation terminal 4 or the like. Becomes Therefore, for example, the system administrator can operate the operation terminal 4 to store the absolute ID and the user name (proper noun) of the DU 2 in association with each other in the storage unit 13. Can be managed. Further, the system administrator stores the relative ID and the user name of the DU 2 in the storage unit 13 in association with each other, so that the proper noun for each seat in the conference room is displayed on the display unit 44 or the like of the operation terminal 4. Can be displayed.

● DU setting process Return to FIG.
Next, the conference system S executes a DU setting process (S3). The DU setting process (S3) is a process of setting the DU2 based on the unit setting information DB. In the following description, the process in the forward direction is the same as the process in the reverse direction, and thus the description of the process in the reverse direction is omitted.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing information processing of CU1A in the DU setting process (S3).
FIG. 21 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system S in the DU setting process (S3).

The control unit 16 reads the unit setting information DB from the storage unit 13 (S31) and sends a unit setting command for setting the DU2 to the communication unit 11. The communication unit 11 transmits the setting packet carrying the unit setting command to each DU 2A1-2A4 (S32a-S32d). The setting packet includes the absolute ID of DU2 as the packet destination. That is, the destination of the setup packet is addressed by the absolute ID. Therefore, among the DU2s connected to the CU1, only the addressed DU2 receives the setting packet.

Receiving the setting packet, each DU 2A1-2A4 changes the unit setting according to the unit setting command (S33a-S33d). Each DU 2A1-2A4 updates the unit setting information in the storage unit 23. The unit setting is information defining the operation of each DU 2, such as priority setting, microphone on-trigger setting described later, and light emission color setting of the light emitting unit 28.

The communication unit 11 receives the setting packet from each DU 2A1-2A4 whose unit setting has been changed (S34a-S34d). At this time, the setting packet includes information indicating that each DU 2A1-2A4 has correctly acquired the command.

When the DU setting process (S3) is completed, the conference system S can be operated (for example, acquisition of audio information from each DU2).

● Operation processing Return to FIG.
Next, the conference system S executes an operation process (S4). The operation process (S4) periodically (for example, every 166 microseconds) transmits an operation packet from CU1 to DU2, executes various commands carried in the operation packet, and monitors the connection state of DU2 by a counter flag. It is a process to do.

The various commands are, for example, voice acquisition commands. The audio acquisition command is a command for the CU 1 to acquire audio information from the DU 2 to which the audio slot and the audio area are assigned.

As described above, the operation packet may not contain (include) the control command. Even in this case, the operation packet is repeatedly transmitted and received between CU1 and DU2. That is, the CU 1 monitors the connection state of the DU 2 using the counter flag included in the operation packet regardless of the presence or absence of the control command.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart showing the information processing of the CU 1A in the operation process (S4).
FIG. 23 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system S in the operation process (S4).
Hereinafter, the operation processing (S4) will be described by taking as an example the acquisition of audio information from the DU 2A2 to which the audio slot and the audio area are assigned. The allocation of audio slots and audio areas will be described later.

The control unit 16 transmits the voice acquisition command to the communication unit 11. The communication unit 11 transmits the operation packet carrying the voice acquisition command to the DU 2A2 to which the voice slot and the voice area are assigned (S41).

Upon receiving the operation packet, the communication unit 21 of the DU 2A2 puts voice information on the voice area of the number assigned to itself in the voice area of the operation packet according to the voice acquisition command, and transmits the voice information to the CU 1A (S42).

Here, although not shown, the count value of the counter flag is reset in CU1A and incremented in each DU2A1-2A4, as in the initialization process (S1).

CU1A receives the operation packet from DU2A2 (S43). The communication unit 11 transmits information such as the count value of the counter flag and the voice information received by all the terminals of the unit connection unit 12b to the control unit 16. The voice information is received by the voice slot having the same number as the number of the voice area in which the voice information was stored. The processing of voice information will be described later. The control unit 16 confirms (specifies) the connection state (connection method and connection number) of the DU 2 from the count value of the counter flag and the terminal number that transmitted and received the operation packet (S44). This confirmation is executed every time the communication unit 11 receives an operation packet.

The number of connected DUs 2 is confirmed by the newly acquired count value of the counter flag (hereinafter referred to as “new DU count value”) and the count value stored in the storage unit 13 (hereinafter referred to as “old DU count value”). ), and by comparing. That is, when the new DU count value and the old DU count value match, the control unit 16 determines that the number of connected DUs 2 has not changed. On the other hand, when the new DU count value and the old DU count value do not match (when they do not match), the control unit 16 determines that the number of connected DUs 2 has changed.

As described above, the confirmation of the connection method of the DU2 is executed by comparing the terminal number of the terminal that has transmitted the operation packet with the terminal number of the terminal that has received the operation packet. That is, when the terminal numbers of the terminals that have transmitted and received the operation packet match, the control unit 16 determines that the connection method of DU2 is daisy connection. On the other hand, when the terminal numbers of the terminals that have transmitted and received the operation packet do not match (when they do not match), the control unit 16 determines that the connection method of the DU 2 is ring connection.

The control unit 16 reads the unit connection information DB from the storage unit 13 and compares the connection method of the DU2 stored in the unit connection information DB with the newly acquired connection method of the DU2. The control unit 16 determines that there is no change in the connection scheme of DU2 when both connection schemes match (same), and determines that there is a change in connection scheme of DU2 when both connection schemes do not match (different).

When determining that there is a change in either the number of connected DUs 2 or the connection method of the DUs 2, the control unit 16 determines that the connection state of the DUs 2 has changed. That is, the control unit 16 determines that the connection state of the DU 2 is changed when the new DU count value and the old DU count value do not match. On the other hand, when determining that there is no change in any of them, the control unit 16 determines that there is no change in the connection state of the DU 2.

When there is a change in the connection state of the DU 2 (“Yes” in S44), the conference system S executes a change process (S5). The change process (S5) will be described later.

FIG. 24 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system S when the connection state of the DU 2 is changed.
The figure shows an example in which the DU2A3 has a connection failure due to a failure or removal. For convenience of explanation, this figure shows only the processing in the forward direction of the operation packet in which no command is put.

The communication unit 11 of the CU1A transmits the operation packet to the DU2A1 via the first terminal (S41a). The DU2A1 increments the count value of the counter flag of the received operational packet (S42a), and transmits the operational packet to the DU2A2. The DU2A2 increments the count value of the counter flag of the received operational packet (S42b).

When a connection abnormality occurs in DU2A3, DU2A2 recognizes that it has become the terminal DU2 because no operation packet is received from one terminal (reverse direction). Therefore, the DU 2A2 adds (puts) a return flag on the operation packet (S42c). The DU2A2 transmits the operation packet to which the return flag is added to the CU1A via the DU2A1. At this time, the DU 2A1 does not increment the count value of the counter flag but only transmits/receives the operation packet, because the return flag is added to the operation packet, as described above.

On the other hand, in the reverse process, the DU2A4 transmits the operation packet to which the loopback flag is added to the CU1A, similarly to the DU2A2 (not shown).

The control unit 16 of the CU 1A recognizes the change of the connection method of the DU 2A1-2A4 (change from ring connection to daisy connection) because the terminal numbers of the terminals through which the operation packets are transmitted and received are the same. The control unit 16 recognizes the change in the number of connected DUs 2 connected to the same terminal based on the comparison result of the count values of the counter flags of the operation packet. The control unit 16 collates the recognition result with the unit connection information DB to recognize the change in the connection state of the DU 2A1-2A4 (S44).

At this time, the control unit 16 connects to the DU 2A3 from the count value “2” of the counter flag of the operation packet received by the first terminal and the count value “1” of the counter flag of the operation packet received by the second terminal. Recognize that an abnormality has occurred. In this way, the CU 1A immediately recognizes the occurrence of the connection abnormality when the connection abnormality occurs, and specifies the connection abnormality location.

Returning to FIG. 22 and FIG.
When there is no change in the connection state of DU2 (“No” in S44), the control unit 16 stores the voice information received by all terminals in the voice slot and the information stored in the storage unit 13 in association with the absolute ID of DU2. And are synthesized (processed) to generate synthetic speech information (S45). The synthesis of the voice information is executed by synthesizing the voice information stored in the voice regions of the same number in the voice regions of the respective operation packets received by all the terminals.

The synthetic voice information includes, for example, information of the user (speaker) of the DU 2 associated with the absolute ID, time information, group information, and the like. The synthesized voice information is stored in, for example, a USB memory connected to the external device connection unit 12a of the CU 1A, and is transmitted to each DU 2A1-2A4. The synthesized voice information transmitted to each DU2A1-2A4 is processed by the control unit 26 of each DU2A1-2A4, converted into a sound wave by the speaker 27, and output from the speaker 27.

When generating the synthetic voice information, the control unit 16 confirms whether or not the request flag of the operation packet is added (S46). The request flag will be described later.

When the request flag is given (“Yes” in S46), the conference system S executes the request process (S6). When the request flag is not added (“No” in S46), the conference system S repeats the operation process (S4).

Change Process When there is a change in the connection state of DU2, the conference system S executes a change process (S5). The changing process (S5) is a process of updating the unit connection information stored in the unit connection information DB after changing the connection state of the DU 2 to prevent a loss of voice information and a defect in the voice information synthesis process.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart showing the information processing of CU1A in the change processing (S5).

In the change process (S5), the unit connection information stored in the unit connection information DB is updated. Therefore, the initialization process (S1), the DU information acquisition process (S2), and the DU setting process (S3) are performed. This is a process to be executed again.

FIG. 26 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system S as an example of the initialization process (S1) in the change process (S5). This figure shows a state in which the DU2A3 has a connection failure due to a failure or removal. For convenience of explanation, this figure shows only the forward processing.

In the initialization process (S1), the communication unit 11 of the CU1A transmits the initialization packet to the DU2A1 via the first terminal and also transmits the initialization packet to the DU2A4 via the second terminal. The initialization packet from the first terminal is looped back in DU2A2. At this time, DU2A2 adds a return flag to the initialization packet (S131a). On the other hand, the initialization packet from the second terminal is returned by the DU 2A4 (not shown). At this time, the DU 2A4 adds a return flag to the initialization packet (not shown).

The communication unit 11 receives the initialization packet from the DU2A1 via the first terminal (S16a) and receives the initialization packet from the DU2A4 via the second terminal. The control unit 16 stores the new DU count value in the storage unit 13. At this time, the control unit 16 updates the old DU count value with the new DU count value.

The control unit 16 recognizes the connection state of the DU2 for each terminal of the CU1, that is, the connection method and the number of connected DU2 (S17). The connection method of the DU2A1 and DU2A2 connected to the first terminal of the CU1 and the connection method of the DU2A4 connected to the second terminal are daisy connection because the terminals that transmit and receive the initialization packet are the same. On the other hand, the number of connected DU2s connected to the first terminal is two, and the number of connected DU2s connected to the second terminal is one.

When recognizing the connection method and the number of connected DU2, the control unit 16 generates the relative ID of each DU2 (S18).

The control unit 16 stores the connection method of the DU 2, the number of connected units, and the relative ID in the unit connection information DB of the storage unit 13 in association with each other (S19). As a result, the connection state of the DU 2 and the association between the relative ID and the absolute ID stored in the unit connection information DB of the storage unit 13 are updated. Thus, when the new DU count value and the old DU count value do not match, the control unit 16 updates the association between the relative ID and the absolute ID. When the two connection methods are different, the control unit 16 updates the connection method of the DU 2 stored in the storage unit 13.

Each processing content of the DU information acquisition processing (S2) and DU setting processing (S3) is the same as each processing content of the DU information acquisition processing (FIG. 17) and the DU setting processing (FIG. 20) described above.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in the unit connection information DB after the change processing.
This figure shows that, as compared with FIG. 19, DU2A3 has disappeared and the relative ID of DU2A4 has been changed from “4” to “3”. In this way, when the relative ID is changed, the association between the absolute ID and the relative ID is updated, so that there is no problem in the voice information synthesis process before and after the change of the connection state of the DU 2.

In the change processing, when there is no change in the number of connected DU2, the relative ID of DU2 may not be updated and only the connection method of DU2 may be updated.

●Request processing Return to FIG.
In the operation process (S4), when the request flag is added to the operation packet, the conference system S executes the request process (S6). The request process (S6) is a process of executing command management up to allocation of DU2 to a voice slot when a speech request is issued from DU2.

The request flag is not the command itself, but is an on/off state of a fixed length bit added to the operation packet by the user's operation when the user of the DU 2 makes a speech request. The request flag is added to the operation packet by the control unit 26 of the DU 2. The request flag is added by the control unit 26 of the DU 2 processing the bit of the request flag (for example, when the bit is on, the bit is set to “1”, and when the bit is off, the bit is set to “0”). .. The DU2 to which the request flag is added is in a command waiting state (request waiting state) from the CU1. The operation packet to which the request flag is added is transmitted from the communication unit 21 of DU2 to CU1A. The user's operation is performed by either an operation by pressing the operation button 25a (hereinafter referred to as "manual trigger") or an operation by the user's voice (hereinafter referred to as "automatic trigger"). That is, the manual trigger and the automatic trigger are triggers for turning on the microphone 3.

The DU 2 in the request waiting state is a state in which the communication unit 21 cannot transmit the voice information to the CU 1 (hereinafter referred to as “transmission disabled state”). On the other hand, DU2 in a state in which a speech request (request) is permitted to CU1 (hereinafter referred to as "speakable state") is in a state in which communication unit 21 can transmit voice information to CU1 (hereinafter referred to as "transmittable state"). .)

FIG. 28 is a flowchart showing the information processing of the CU 1A in the request processing (S6).
FIG. 29 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system S in the request processing (S6). For convenience of explanation, this figure shows only the sequence of CU1A and DU2A1.

When the request flag is added to the operation packet received by the CU 1A, the control unit 16 of the CU 1A takes the request flag into the request flag register (storage unit 13) (S61). At this time, the control unit 16 fetches the request flag but does not transmit the command to the DU2. By this processing, the request flag is captured in the register (storage unit 13), so that the omission of the utterance request on the hardware (missing) is eliminated.

Next, the control unit 16 executes mask processing on the bits corresponding to the fetched request flag (S62). By this processing, the request flag in the request flag register is protected, that is, the request flag cannot be rewritten. As a result, erroneous detection of the request flag is prevented.

Next, the control unit 16 confirms, for example, whether or not the request is rejected from the chairperson, the system administrator, or the like (S63). When the request is rejected (“Yes” in S63), the control unit 16 releases the mask (S71).

When the request is not rejected (“No” in S63), the control unit 16 confirms whether there is a space between the voice slot and the voice area (S64). When the voice slot and the voice area have a space (“Yes” in S64), the control unit 16 transmits an acquisition command for acquiring the content of the request to the communication unit 11. The communication unit 11 transmits the content acquisition packet carrying the acquisition command to the DU2A1 (S65).

The communication unit 21 of the DU2A1 that has received the content acquisition packet puts the content of the request (speech request) on the content acquisition packet and transmits it to the CU1A (S67). The DU2A1 transmits the content of the request to the CU1A and clears the request flag (turns off the request flag bit) (S66).

The request flag may be cleared by CU1 instead of DU2.

The communication unit 11 receives the content acquisition packet (S68) and transmits the content of the request to the control unit 16. The control unit 16 releases the mask after acquiring the content of the request (S69) and allocates the audio slot and the audio area to the DU2A1 (S70). After that, the speech request from DU2A1 is permitted. The control unit 26 of the DU 2A1 switches the state of the communication unit 21 from the transmission disabled state to the transmission enabled state. That is, DU2A1 is in the utterable state.

On the other hand, when there is no space between the voice slot and the voice region (“No” in S64), the control unit 16 waits for the voice slot and the voice region to be free (no process is performed on the DU2A1). At this time, the DU2A1 automatically enters the request waiting state. The state of the communication unit 21 of the DU2A1 is the transmission disabled state.

The conference system S returns to the operation process (S4) after one of the processes of assigning the DU2 to the voice slot and the voice region (S70) and releasing the mask (S71).

In this way, the conference system S takes in the utterance request from the DU2 by processing the request flag on a regular basis, and causes the CU1 to send the content acquisition command to the DU2 only when the voice slot and the voice region are free. That is, the conference system S does not send a command each time a speech request is made. Therefore, the conference system S does not have an excessive information processing load even if a plurality of DUs 2 make utterance requests at once.

Further, when there is no space in the voice slot and the voice area, the DU 2 which has issued the utterance request automatically enters the request waiting state. Therefore, the conference system S does not have to respond to all utterance requests from the DU 2, and the load of information processing is reduced.

Further, the utterance request from the DU2 is made by processing the bit of the request flag, not the command. Therefore, the area occupied by the request flag in the packet can be set to, for example, several bytes. As a result, the information processing load of the conference system S for the utterance request is reduced.

The flow of request processing in the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. That is, for example, the confirmation of the vacancy between the voice slot and the voice area (S64) may be performed after the transmission and reception of the content acquisition packet.

FIG. 30 is a flowchart showing another information processing of CU1A in request processing.
The request process (S6a) shown in the figure is shown in FIG. 28 except that the confirmation of the vacancy between the voice slot and the voice region (S64a) is executed immediately before the allocation of the voice slot and the voice region (S70). It is the same as request processing. That is, in the request process (S6a) shown in the figure, the process of fetching the request flag (S61), the mask process (S62), the process of confirming whether or not the request is rejected (S63), and the case where the request is rejected (“ The processing of "Yes") (S71) and the processing of allocating the audio slot and the audio area (S70) are the same as the request processing (S6) shown in FIG.

When the request is not rejected (“No” in S63), the control unit 16 transmits the acquisition command to the communication unit 11. The communication unit 11 transmits the content acquisition packet carrying the acquisition command to the DU2A1 (S65a).

Upon receiving the content acquisition packet, the DU 2A1 clears the request flag (S66), transmits the content of the request (speech request) on the content acquisition packet, and transmits it to the CU 1A (S67).

The communication unit 11 receives the content acquisition packet (S68a) and transmits the content of the request to the control unit 16. After acquiring the request content, the control unit 16 releases the mask (S69a), and confirms the vacancy between the audio slot and the audio area (S64a). When there is a space between the voice slot and the voice area ("Yes" in S64a), the control unit 16 allocates DU2A1 to the voice slot and the voice area (S70). At this time, DU2A1 is in the utterable state. On the other hand, when there is no space in the sound/voice slot and the voice area (“No” in S64a), the control unit 16 waits for the voice slot and the voice area to be free.

The flow of each process of the conference system according to the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. That is, for example, the conference system S may execute each process by an appropriate parallel process instead of the series process.

Further, as described above, various packets transmitted from CU1 to DU2 include a counter flag and a request flag. That is, the monitoring of the connection state of DU2 by incrementing the counter flag is always performed in various packets transmitted from CU1 to DU2 regardless of the presence or absence of a command. Further, the request flag can always be added to various packets transmitted from CU1 to DU2.

Operation of Light-Emitting Unit of DU2 in Request Process The light-emitting state of the light-emitting unit 28 of DU2 changes according to the operation state of DU2 during the request process (S6). That is, for example, the light emitting pattern of the light emitting unit 28 is a blinking pattern when the DU 2 is in the request waiting state (transmission disabled state) and a lighting pattern when the DU 2 is in the utterable state (transmittable state). When the request from the DU 2 is rejected, only the first light emitting unit 28a of the light emitting unit 28 blinks at an interval shorter than the blink pattern in the request waiting state, and only the user is notified that the request has been rejected. The light emission pattern of the light emitting unit 28 of the DU 2 to which the request flag is not added indicates a light-off pattern or a dimmer light-on pattern. In this way, the light emitting unit 28 functions as a notification unit that visually notifies the operating status of the DU 2.

●Operation of conference system with multiple CUs●
Next, the operation of the conference system including a plurality of CUs 1 will be described.

FIG. 31 is a flowchart showing information processing of the conference system S including a plurality of CUs 1.
After the conference system S is activated, the conference system S performs initialization processing (S1), CU connection state confirmation processing (S101), DU information acquisition processing (S2), slave CU information acquisition processing (S102), and slave. DU initialization processing (S103), slave DU information acquisition processing (S104), slave CU DB information acquisition processing (S105), DU setting processing (S3), slave DU setting processing (S106), and priority re-establishment processing. The setting process (S107) and the operation process (S4) are executed. The slave CU is CU1 set as a slave. Slave DU is DU2 connected to CU1 set as a slave.

The flow of each process of the conference system according to the present invention is not limited to this embodiment. That is, for example, the conference system S may execute each process by an appropriate parallel process instead of the series process.

Hereinafter, CU1A (hereinafter referred to as "master CU") in FIG. 1, DU2A1-2A4 connected to the master CU (hereinafter referred to as "master DU"), and CU1B connected to the master CU (hereinafter referred to as "slave CU"). ) And DU2B1-2B4 (hereinafter, referred to as “slave DU”) connected to the slave CU.

The master DU is ring-connected to the first terminal and the second terminal of the master CU via a communication line. The slave DU is ring-connected to the first terminal and the second terminal of the slave CU via a communication line. The slave CU is connected to the third terminal of the master CU.

The master CU (CU1A) is set as a master, for example, by a system administrator changing CU unit information described later. The slave CU (CU1B) is set as a slave, for example, by a system administrator or the like changing CU unit information described later. The control of the conference system S including a plurality of CUs is performed by the master CU.

Initialization Process First, the conference system S executes the initialization process (S1) of the master DU connected to the master CU. The initialization process (S1) is the same as the initialization process (FIG. 12) described above.

CU Connection State Confirmation Process Next, the conference system S executes a CU connection state confirmation process (S101). The CU connection state confirmation process (S101) is a process of recognizing the connection method and the number of connected units of another CU1 connected to the CU1. The CU connection state confirmation process (S101) is repeatedly executed during the operation of the conference system S.

FIG. 32 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system S in the CU connection state confirmation processing.

The control unit 16 of the master CU sends a CU connection state confirmation command for confirming the connection state of the CU to the communication unit 11 of the master CU. The communication unit 11 of the master CU transmits a CU connection state confirmation packet carrying a CU connection state confirmation command from the third terminal to the slave CU (S1011). The control unit 16 of the master CU resets the count value of the counter flag included in the packet transmitted to the slave CU. That is, the count value of the counter flag included in the packet transmitted from CU1A to CU1B is "0". The counter flag included in the packet transmitted from CU1A to CU1B is used to count the number of slave CUs connected to the master CU.

The control unit 16 of the slave CU that has received the CU connection status confirmation packet increments the count value of the counter flag (S1012). The communication unit 11 of the slave CU transmits a CU connection state confirmation packet including the incremented counter flag to the master CU.

The communication unit 11 of the master CU receives the CU connection status confirmation packet from the slave CU via the third terminal (S1013).

The control unit 16 of the master CU stores information such as the count value of the counter flag included in the CU connection status confirmation packet received by the communication unit 11 of the master CU in the storage unit 13 of the master CU.

The control unit 16 of the master CU recognizes the connection state of the CU1 (S1014), similarly to the recognition of the connection state of the DU2 (S17) described above. That is, for example, the control unit 16 of the master CU recognizes that one slave CU is daisy-connected based on the count value of the counter flag.

When the control unit 16 of the master CU recognizes the connection state of the CU1, the control unit 16 generates the relative ID of each CU1 (S1015).

The control unit 16 of the master CU stores the connection method, the number of connected units, and the relative ID of the CU 1 in the unit connection information DB of the storage unit 13 of the master CU (S1016).

The CU connection status confirmation processing (S101) is repeatedly executed periodically while the conference system S is operating. That is, the CU connection status confirmation packet is repeatedly transmitted/received between the master CU and the slave CU. Each time the control unit 16 of the master CU receives the connection status confirmation packet from the slave CU, the count value of the newly acquired counter flag (hereinafter referred to as “new CU count value”) and the storage unit 13 of the master CU. The stored count value (hereinafter referred to as "old CU count value") is compared. When the new CU count value and the old CU count value match, the control unit 16 of the master CU determines that the connection state of CU1 has not changed. On the other hand, when the new CU count value does not match the old CU count value (when they do not match), the control unit 16 of the master CU determines that the connection state of CU1 has changed. The control unit 16 of the master CU stores the new CU count value in the storage unit 13 of the master CU. That is, the control unit 16 of the master CU updates the old CU count value with the new CU count value.

When the connection status of the slave CU changes, such as when a connection error occurs in the slave CU or when a new slave CU is connected, the comparison result between the new CU count value and the old CU count value does not match. Becomes When the comparison results do not match, the control unit 16 of the master CU updates the information stored in the unit connection information DB stored in the storage unit 13 with the newly recognized connection state of the slave CU. Therefore, when a connection abnormality occurs in the slave CU, the master CU immediately recognizes the occurrence of the connection abnormality and identifies the connection abnormality portion. Further, when the connection state of the slave CU is changed, the master CU updates the information stored in the unit connection information DB, which causes a problem such as a synthesis process of voice information before and after the change of the connection state. Does not occur.

DU Information Acquisition Process Next, the conference system S executes the DU information acquisition process (S2) of the master DU. The DU information acquisition process (S2) is the same as the DU information acquisition process (FIG. 17) described above.

-Slave CU Information Acquisition Process Next, the conference system S executes a slave CU information acquisition process (S102). The slave CU information acquisition process is a process of acquiring the CU unit information of the slave CU. The CU unit information is the serial number (absolute ID) or MAC address of CU1.

FIG. 33 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system S in the slave CU information acquisition process (S102).

The control unit 16 of the master CU transmits an information acquisition command for acquiring the CU unit information of the slave CU to the communication unit 11 of the master CU. The communication unit 11 of the master CU transmits the information acquisition packet carrying the information acquisition command to the slave CU (S1021).

The slave CU that has received the information acquisition command transmits the CU unit information to the master CU along with the CU unit information in accordance with the information acquisition command (S1022).

The communication unit 11 of the master CU receives the information acquisition packet from the slave CU (S1023). The communication unit 11 of the master CU transmits the CU unit information to the control unit 16 of the master CU.

The control unit 16 acquires the absolute ID of the slave CU from the CU unit information (S1024). The control unit 16 reads the unit connection information DB, stores the absolute ID and the relative ID in the unit connection information DB in association with each other (S1025).

Slave DU Initialization Process Next, the conference system S executes a slave DU initialization process (S103). The slave DU initialization process (S103) is a process of initializing the unit setting of the slave DU connected to the slave CU and recognizing the connection state of the slave DU.

FIG. 34 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system S in the slave DU initialization process (S103).

The control unit 16 of the master CU sends an initialization command for initializing the slave DU to the communication unit 11 of the master CU. The communication unit 11 of the master CU transmits the initialization packet carrying the initialization command from the third terminal to the slave CU (S1031a).

The slave CU that has received the initialization packet transmits the initialization packet to the slave DU from both directions of the first terminal and the second terminal (S1031b). The slave DU initializes the unit setting according to the initialization command and increments the count value of the counter flag (S1032). The slave DU transmits an initialization packet obtained by incrementing the count value of the counter flag to the slave CU. The initialization packet is transmitted between slave DUs as in the initialization process (FIG. 12).

The communication unit 11 of the slave CU receives the initialization packet from the slave DU via the first terminal and the second terminal (S1033b). The control unit 16 of the slave CU stores information such as the count value of the counter flag included in the initialization packet received by the communication unit 11 of the slave CU in the storage unit 13 of the slave CU.

The control unit 16 of the slave CU recognizes the connection state of the slave DU (S1035b) and generates the relative ID of the slave DU (S1036b). This relative ID is an ID used by the slave CU to control the slave DU.

The control unit 16 of the slave CU stores the connection method of the slave DU, the number of connected units, and the relative ID in the unit connection information DB of the storage unit 13 of the slave CU in association with each other (S1037b).

The communication unit 11 of the slave CU transmits the received initialization packet to the master CU (S1034b).

The communication unit 11 of the master CU receives the initialization packet from the slave CU via the third terminal (S1033a). The communication unit 11 of the master CU transmits information such as the count value of the counter flag obtained from the received initialization packet to the control unit 16 of the master CU. The control unit 16 of the master CU stores information such as the count value of the counter flag in the storage unit 13 of the master CU.

The control unit 16 of the master CU recognizes the connection state of the slave DU (S1035a) and generates the relative ID of the slave DU (S1036a). This relative ID is an ID used by the master CU to control the slave DU.

The control unit 16 of the master CU stores the connection method of the slave DU, the number of connected units, and the relative ID in association with each other in the unit connection information DB of the storage unit 13 of the master CU (S1037a).

Slave DU Information Acquisition Process Next, the conference system S executes a slave DU information acquisition process (S104). The slave DU information acquisition process (S104) is a process of acquiring the unit information of the slave DU connected to the slave CU.

FIG. 35 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system S in the slave DU information acquisition processing (S104).

The control unit 16 of the master CU transmits an information acquisition command for acquiring the unit information of the slave DU to the communication unit 11 of the master CU. The communication unit 11 of the master CU transmits the information acquisition packet carrying the information acquisition command to the slave CU via the third terminal (S1041a).

The slave CU that has received the information acquisition packet transmits the information acquisition packet to the slave DU from both directions of the first terminal and the second terminal (S1041b). The slave DU puts the unit information in the information acquisition packet according to the information acquisition command and transmits it to the slave CU (S1042). The information acquisition packet is transmitted between slave DUs as in the DU information acquisition process (FIG. 17).

The communication unit 11 of the slave CU receives the information acquisition packet from the slave DU (S1043b).

The control unit 16 of the slave CU acquires the absolute ID of the slave DU from the unit information included in the information acquisition packet received by the communication unit 11 of the slave CU (S1045b). The control unit 16 associates the absolute ID with the relative ID and stores them in the unit connection information DB of the storage unit 13 of the slave CU (S1046b). That is, the control unit 16 of the slave CU is to update the association between the relative ID and an absolute ID in the slave CU. Therefore, even if the connection state between the master CU and the slave CU is changed, the slave CU can operate in a stand-alone manner. As a result, before and after the change of the connection state of the slave CU, no information defect such as a voice information synthesizing process occurs.

The communication unit 11 of the slave CU transmits the information acquisition packet to the master CU (S1044b).

The communication unit 11 of the master CU receives the information acquisition packet from the slave CU via the third terminal (S1043a).

The control unit 16 of the master CU acquires the absolute ID from the unit information included in the information acquisition packet received by the communication unit 11 of the master CU (S1045a). The control unit 16 of the master CU stores the absolute ID and the relative ID in the unit connection information DB of the storage unit 13 of the master CU in association with each other (S1046a).

FIG. 36 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in the storage unit 13 of the master CU after the slave DU information acquisition processing. In the figure, the relative IDs "5", "6", "7" and "8" of the four DUs 2 ring-connected to the terminal numbers "1" and "2" of the slave CU (ID "2") are absolute IDs " It is shown that it is associated with E”, “F”, “G”, and “H”. The figure shows that the relative ID “1” of one CU1 daisy-connected to the terminal number “3” is associated with the absolute ID “β”.

-Slave CU DB Information Acquisition Process Next, the conference system S executes a slave CU DB information acquisition process (S105). The slave CU DB information acquisition process (S105) is a process in which the master CU acquires the unit setting information of the slave DU stored in the unit setting information DB of the slave CU.

FIG. 37 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system S in the DB information acquisition processing (S105) of the slave CU.

The control unit 16 of the master CU transmits a DB information acquisition command for acquiring the unit setting information of the slave CU to the communication unit 11 of the master CU. The communication unit 11 of the master CU transmits the DB information acquisition packet carrying the DB information acquisition command to the slave CU via the third terminal (S1051).

The control unit 16 of the slave CU reads the unit setting information DB from the storage unit 13 of the slave CU, and transmits the unit setting information of the slave DU designated as the master CU to the communication unit 11 of the slave CU. The communication unit 11 of the slave CU transmits a DB information acquisition packet carrying the unit setting information of the slave DU to the master CU (S1052).

The communication unit 11 of the master CU receives the DB information acquisition packet from the slave CU via the third terminal (S1053). The communication unit 11 of the master CU transmits the unit setting information of the slave DU obtained from the received DB information acquisition packet to the control unit 16 of the master CU.

The control unit 16 of the master CU stores the unit setting information of the slave DU included in the DB information acquisition packet received by the communication unit 11 of the master CU in the unit setting information DB of the storage unit 13 of the master CU (S1054). By this processing, the master CU can specify the unit setting information of the slave DU held by the slave CU.

DU Setting Process Next, the conference system S executes the DU setting process (S3) of the master DU connected to the master CU. The DU setting process (S3) is the same as the DU setting process (FIG. 20) described above.

Slave DU Setting Process Next, the conference system S executes a slave DU setting process (S106). The slave DU setting process (S106) is a process of setting the slave DU connected to the slave CU.

FIG. 38 is a sequence diagram showing information processing of the conference system S in the slave DU setting process (S106).

The control unit 16 of the master CU reads the unit setting information DB from the storage unit 13 of the master CU (S1061) and sends a unit setting command for setting the slave DU to the communication unit 11 of the master CU. The communication unit 11 of the master CU transmits the setting packet carrying the unit setting command to the slave CU (S1062a).

The slave CU that has received the setting packet transmits the setting packet to the slave DU (S1062b). The slave DU that has received the setting packet changes the unit setting according to the unit setting command (S1063).

The communication unit 11 of the slave CU receives the setting packet from the slave DU that has changed the unit setting (S1064b).

The communication unit 11 of the slave CU transmits the received setting packet to the master CU (S1065b).

The communication unit 11 of the master CU receives the setting packet from the slave CU (S1064a).

Priority resetting process Next, the conference system S executes a priority resetting process (S107). In the priority re-setting process (S107), when the connection state between the CUs 1 changes (the new CU count value and the old CU count value do not match), the priority setting of each CU 1 and the conference system S are performed. This is a process for automatically resolving the inconsistent state that occurs between the setting of the overall priority and the setting. The inconsistent state is a state in which the number of DUs 2 to which the priority is set is the same as or larger than the maximum utterable number. That is, for example, the inconsistent state is a state in which when the maximum utterable number of the entire conference system S is 5, the number of DUs 2 to which the priority of the entire conference system S is set is 7. This inconsistent state may occur, for example, when CU1 in which four DU2s have priority are connected to CU1 in which three DU2s have priority.

FIG. 39 is a flowchart showing information processing of CU1 in the priority resetting process of CU1 provided in the conference system S.

The control unit 16 of the master CU reads the unit setting information DB from the storage unit 13 of the master CU (S1071). The control unit 16 of the master CU refers to the unit setting information DB and determines the number of DUs 2 to which priority is set (hereinafter referred to as “priority set number”) and the maximum of the entire conference system S set to the master CU. The set number of speakers is compared (S1072).

When the priority setting number is equal to or larger than the maximum speaker setting number (“Yes” in S1072), the control unit 16 of the master CU is not currently connected among the DU2s in which the unit setting information is stored in the unit setting information DB. The priority setting of the DU (hereinafter referred to as "non-connection DU") 2 is turned off one by one (S1073). The process of turning off the priority setting of the unconnected DU2 is executed in order from the DU2 in which the unit setting information DB is stored in the unit setting information DB of the CU1 (CU1B in the present embodiment) having a large relative ID value. That is, the processing of the slave DU connected to the slave CU (priority update) is prioritized over the processing of the master DU connected to the master CU (priority update).

When the priority setting number is smaller than the maximum speaker setting number (“No” in S1072), the conference system S ends the priority resetting process (S107).

Next, the control unit 16 of the master CU compares the priority setting number with the maximum speaker setting number (S1074). When the priority setting number is equal to or larger than the maximum speaker setting number (“Yes” in S1074), the control unit 16 of the master CU confirms (specifies) the remaining number of unconnected DU2 (S1075). When there is a remaining number of unconnected DU2 (“Yes” in S1075), the control unit 16 of the master CU continues the process of turning off the priority setting of the unconnected DU2 (S1073).

When there is no remaining number of unconnected DUs 2 (“No” in S1075), the control unit 16 of the master CU turns off the priority setting of the currently connected DUs (hereinafter referred to as “connected DUs”) 2 one by one. (S1076). The process of turning off the priority setting of the connected DU2 is sequentially executed from the DU2 having a larger relative ID among the DU2 connected to the CU1 having a large relative ID.

Next, the control unit 16 of the master CU compares the priority setting number with the maximum speaker setting number (S1077). When the priority setting number is equal to or larger than the maximum speaker setting number (“Yes” in S1077), the control unit 16 of the master CU continues the process of turning off the priority setting of the connected DU2 (S1076).

When the priority setting number becomes smaller than the maximum speaker setting number (“No” in S1074, “No” in S1077), the control unit 16 of the master CU stores the unit setting information DB in the storage unit 13 of the master CU. Update the registered unit setting information. The control unit 16 of the slave CU is stored in the unit setting information DB of the storage unit 13 of the slave CU in synchronization with the update of the unit setting information stored in the unit setting information DB of the storage unit 13 of the master CU. Update the unit setting information. As a result, the priority setting for each DU2 stored in the storage unit 13 of each CU1 is updated. The conference system S ends the priority resetting process (S107).

In this way, the conference system S automatically changes the priority setting of the DU2 when the connection state between the CU1s is changed. In other words, the conference system S updates the priority setting for each DU2 that can speak when the new CU count value and the old CU count value do not match. Therefore, in the conference system according to the present invention, the above-mentioned inconsistent state does not occur. Further, the conference system S does not require the system administrator to set the priority according to the connection state between the CUs 1. Therefore, the burden of resetting the priority of the system administrator is reduced.

The priority resetting process is performed when the number of connected slave CUs decreases in the CU connection status confirmation process, that is, when the number of connected slave CUs (old CU count value) stored in the storage unit 13 of the master CU is updated. When the number is larger than the number of connected slave CUs (new CU count value) recognized in (1) (when they do not match), the mode may be executed. That is, for example, the priority resetting process may be performed so that when the number of connected slave CUs decreases, the number of DUs 2 to which the priority is set is the same before and after the change of the number of connected slaves. Specifically, the priority resetting process raises the priority of the priority authority of some master DUs (or sets the priority setting) among the priority authorities of the master DU stored in the storage unit 13 of the master CU. May be turned on).

In addition, the priority resetting process is performed by the master DU stored in the storage unit 13 of the master CU when the increase in the number of connected slave CUs is confirmed in the CU connection status confirmation process. Processing may be performed so that the priority of the priority authority of the DU is lowered (or the priority setting is turned off). That is, when the number of connected slave CUs (old CU count value) stored in the storage unit 13 of the master CU is smaller than the number of newly recognized slave CU connections (new CU count value) (when they do not match), The priority re-setting process does not lower the priority of priority authority from the slave DU described above, but lowers the priority of priority of some master DUs (or turns off the priority setting). May be.

Operation Operation Next, the conference system S executes an operation processing (S4). The operation process (S4) is the same as the above-described operation process (FIG. 22) except that the master CU manages the connection state of the slave CU and the slave DU, the audio information of the slave DU, and the like. That is, the master CU repeatedly transmits and receives the operation packet to and from the master DU, and also repeatedly transmits and receives the operation packet to and from the slave DU via the slave CU. At this time, the slave CU repeatedly transmits and receives operation packets to and from the slave DU.

● Meeting mode ●
The conference system S has a conference mode. The conference mode specifies a combination of setting items “override”, “microphone on trigger (priority setting)”, and “microphone on trigger (priority non-setting)” among various setting items that define the operation of the conference system S. Information (union information). In other words, the conference system S identifies a combination of each setting content of override, microphone on trigger (priority setting), and microphone on trigger (priority non-setting) based on the conference mode. Each of the setting items will be described later.

FIG. 40 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the conference mode.
The figure shows that the conference system S includes three conference modes, a "free talk mode", a "request talk mode", and a "full remote mode". The figure shows combinations of setting contents of override, microphone on trigger (priority setting), and microphone on trigger (priority non-setting) for each conference mode.

This figure shows that, for example, in the case of the conference mode “free talk mode”, either “off”, “on/FIFO”, or “off/LIFO” can be selected as the setting content of the setting item “override”. Also, in the figure, for example, in the case of the conference mode “request talk mode”, either “manual trigger” or “automatic trigger” can be selected as the setting content of the setting item “microphone on trigger (priority setting)”. Indicates. Furthermore, the figure shows that, for example, in the conference mode “full remote mode”, the setting item “microphone on trigger (priority non-setting)” cannot be set. Each setting content for each setting item shown in the figure will be described later.

Before the conference mode is selected, the conference system S stores in advance, in the storage unit 13 of the CU 1, information indicating a combination of the information for identifying the conference mode shown in FIG. 40 and the setting content of each setting item. .. The conference system S refers to the storage unit 13 based on the information for specifying the conference mode input from the operation terminal 4 by the system administrator or the like, that is, the combination information, and refers to the “override” corresponding to the conference mode. Specify the settings for "Microphone on trigger (priority setting)" and "Microphone on trigger (priority non-setting)". That is, the storage unit 13 stores the association information and the information specifying the setting content for each setting item in association with each other.

● Setting item "Override"
Override is a setting item related to an allocation method for determining "on"/"off" of the override in the allocation of the audio slot and the audio area to the DU2 to which the request flag is added.

The override ends the utterance of DU2 to which the voice slot and the voice area have already been allocated when the utterance request is made (the request flag is added to the operation packet) in a state where the voice slot and the voice area are not empty. This is a process of allocating a voice slot and a voice region to the DU2 which has requested the utterance without waiting for. The override includes an allocation method when it is “on” and an allocation method when it is “off”. When the override is “on”, the override performs a process according to one of the allocation methods of FIFO (First In First Out) and LIFO (Last In First Out).

The FIFO is an allocation method in which, of DU2s to which a voice slot and a voice region have already been assigned, the voice slot and voice region of the DU2 that is first permitted to speak are removed. In the FIFO, the DU 2 to which the voice slot and the voice area are assigned is de-assigned from the voice slot and the voice area in a random manner.

The LIFO is an allocation method in which, of the DU2 to which the voice slot and the voice area have already been assigned, the voice slot and the voice area of the DU2 to which the last utterance is permitted are removed. In the LIFO, among the voice slots and the voice areas, only the DU2 to which the last empty voice slot and the voice area are assigned (the utterance is permitted at the immediately preceding timing) is replaced.

On the other hand, the allocation method when the override is “off” is an allocation method in which, of the DU2 to which the voice slot and the voice area have already been assigned, the voice slot and the voice area of the DU2 that has finished speaking are removed. .. That is, the DU2 for which the utterance request has been issued waits for the end of the utterance of the DU2 (a) to which the voice slot and the voice area have already been assigned, and then the voice assigned to the DU2 (a) for which the utterance has ended Slots and voice areas are assigned. That is, the above-described request process (FIG. 28) is a process executed when the override is “off”.

Information (hereinafter, referred to as “allocation method information”) that specifies one of the plurality of allocation methods is stored in the storage unit 13 in association with the combination information. For example, the conference mode “free talk mode” is associated with the allocation methods corresponding to the setting contents “off”, “on/FIFO”, and “on/LIFO” of the setting item “override”. The allocation method information is information included in the control information described above. That is, for example, when the setting content “ON/FIFO” is selected in the setting item “override”, the conference system S follows the allocation method in which the allocation of the audio slot and the audio area is randomly removed. An audio slot and an audio area are assigned to the existing DU2.

●Setting item “Mic on trigger”
The microphone-on-trigger is a mode related to the setting of a trigger for adding a request flag (speak request) to an operation packet, that is, a request flag addition method. The microphone-on-trigger includes a setting item "microphone-on-trigger (priority setting)" for a priority-set DU (hereinafter referred to as "priority-setting DU") 2p and a DU for which a priority is not set (hereinafter referred to as "priority-non-setting DU"). .) 2n setting item "microphone on trigger (priority not set)". The microphone-on-trigger is a trigger for turning on the microphone 3 attached to the DU 2, and includes the above-described two applying methods of “manual trigger” and “automatic trigger”. In the microphone-on-trigger, either one of the "manual trigger" and the "automatic trigger" is selected.

Information that identifies one of the plurality of granting methods (hereinafter referred to as “granting method information”) is stored in the storage unit 13 in association with the combination information. For example, the conference mode “request talk mode” is associated with the assigning method corresponding to the setting content “manual trigger” of the setting item “microphone on trigger (priority setting)”. The assignment method information is information included in the control information described above. The assignment method information is stored in the storage unit 13 in association with the assignment method information.

● Conference mode "Free talk mode"
The free talk mode is a conference mode in which the user of the DU 2 assigned the voice slot can freely speak. A voice slot and a voice region are always assigned to the priority setting DU2p. A voice slot and a voice area are assigned to the priority non-setting DU 2n according to the selected assignment method. In the free talk mode, the voice slot and the voice region are automatically assigned, so that the situation of rejecting the utterance request does not occur. Therefore, the operation terminal 4 is not always necessary in the free talk mode.

The setting item “override” in the free talk mode is selected from any one of the three setting contents of “off”, “on/FIFO”, and “on/LIFO”.

The setting item “microphone on trigger” in the free talk mode is individually set for each DU2. That is, for example, the DU2 for which the manual trigger is selected and the DU2 for which the automatic trigger is selected may be mixed.

● Conference mode “Request talk mode”
The request talk mode is a conference mode in which the utterance request of the priority non-setting DU 2n is performed by a manual trigger. A voice slot and a voice region are always assigned to the priority setting DU2p. Based on a request from the operation terminal 4, the priority non-setting DU 2n selects whether to permit or reject the utterance request.

In the request talk mode setting item "override", the setting content "off" cannot be selected. That is, in the request talk mode, one of "on/FIFO" and "on/LIFO" is selected as the setting content of the override.

In the setting item “microphone on trigger” in the request talk mode, only the manual trigger is selected as the setting of the priority non-setting DU2n.

● Conference mode "Full remote mode"
The full remote mode is a conference mode in which the priority non-setting DU 2n can be uttered by an operation from the operation terminal 4. In the priority setting DU2p, a voice slot and a voice area are always assigned. In the priority non-setting DU 2n, the utterance is permitted based on the request from the operation terminal 4.

The setting item "Override" cannot be selected for the setting item "Override" in full remote mode. That is, in the full remote mode, either one of "ON/FIFO" and "ON/LIFO" is selected as the setting content of the override.

With the setting item "microphone on trigger" in the full remote mode, the trigger of the priority non-setting DU2n cannot be set.

●Conference system operation based on conference mode●
Next, the operation of the conference system based on the conference mode will be described. The conference system S operates based on the allocation method of the audio slot and the audio area of each DU 2 and the request flag assignment method, which are determined according to the conference mode selected from the plurality of conference modes.

FIG. 41 is a flowchart showing the information processing of the conference mode selection (S200).
The selection of the conference mode (S200) is performed, for example, between the DU information acquisition process (FIGS. 17 and 18) and the DU setting process (FIGS. 20 and 21) in the information processing executed by the conference system S described above. To be executed.

First, the operation terminal 4 reads the combination information from the storage unit 13 of the CU 1 (master CU) connected to the operation terminal 4 by the operation of the system administrator or the like, and stores it in the storage unit 43 (S2001).

Next, the conference mode is selected (S2002). That is, for example, the operation terminal 4 allows the system administrator or the like to select a conference content from a free talk mode (S201), a request talk mode (S202), and a full remote mode (S203) via a preparation screen described later. Based on the above, the conference mode of 1 is selected. The control unit 46 of the operation terminal 4 identifies the combination information corresponding to the selected conference mode from the plurality of combination information stored in the storage unit 43 (S2003). Here, for example, when the conference mode “free talk mode” shown in FIG. 40 is selected, the control unit 46 of the operation terminal 4 sets “OFF” to the system administrator as the setting content of the setting item “override” of each DU 2. A screen for selecting “ON/FIFO” or “ON/LIFO” is displayed on the display unit 44. Similarly, the control unit 46 of the operation terminal 4 sets “manual trigger” to the system administrator as the setting contents of the setting items “microphone on trigger (priority setting)” and “microphone on trigger (priority non-setting)” of each DU2. A screen for selecting from “automatic trigger” is displayed on the display unit 44. By operating the screen displayed on the display unit 44, the allocation method of the audio slot and the audio area and the request flag addition method for each DU 2 are determined. The communication unit 41 of the operation terminal 4 transmits the determined assignment scheme of the voice slot and the voice area for each DU 2 and the request flag assignment scheme to the CU 1 as the specified combination information (S2004). The CU 1 stores the combination information received from the operation terminal 4 in the storage unit 13 as the unit setting information for each DU 2 (for the DU 2 in which the unit setting information has already been stored, the unit setting information stored in the storage unit 13). Will be updated). The CU1 executes the above-mentioned DU setting process (FIGS. 20 and 21) based on the updated unit setting information, and changes the unit setting for each DU2. As a result, the conference system S operates based on the selected conference mode.

● In conference mode “free talk mode” As described above, DU2 makes a speech request based on the individually set microphone on trigger.

FIG. 42 is a flowchart showing information processing of CU1 in the free talk mode.
First, the control unit 16 of the CU1 waits for an utterance request from the DU2 (“No” in S2011). When a utterance request is issued from DU2 (“Yes” in S2011), the control unit 16 of CU1 confirms whether the DU2 that has issued the utterance request is a priority setting DU2p or a priority non-setting DU2n (S2012).

When the DU2 that has issued the utterance request has the priority setting DU2p (“Yes” in S2012), the control unit 16 of the CU1 allocates a predetermined voice slot and a voice region to the priority setting DU2p (S2013).

When the DU2 that issued the utterance request is the priority non-setting DU2n (“No” in S2012), the control unit 16 of the CU1 confirms that the voice slot and the voice area are free (S2014).

When there is a space between the voice slot and the voice area (“Yes” in S2014), the control unit 16 of the CU1 allocates the vacant voice slot and the voice area to the priority non-setting DU2n (S2015).

When there is no space between the voice slot and the voice area (“No” in S2014), the control unit 16 of the CU1 confirms the override setting content of the priority non-setting DU2n (S2016).

When the setting content of the override is “ON” (“YES” in S2016), the control unit 16 of the CU 1 sets the voice slot and the voice area in the non-priority setting DU 2n according to the setting content of either FIFO or LIFO. It is forcibly assigned (override) (S2017).

When the setting content of the override is "OFF" ("No" in S2016), the control unit 16 of the CU1 again confirms the vacancy between the voice slot and the voice area (S2014). At this time, the priority non-setting DU 2n is in the utterance waiting state (request waiting state) until the voice slot and the voice area are empty.

● Conference Mode “Request Talk Mode” As described above, in the request talk mode, the microphone-on-trigger of the priority non-setting DU 2n is set to the manual mode in advance. The microphone-on-trigger of the priority setting DU2p is set in advance in either the automatic mode or the manual mode.

FIG. 43 is a flowchart showing information processing of CU1 in the request talk mode.
The control unit 16 of the CU1 waits for an utterance request from the DU2 (“No” in S2021). When there is a speech request from DU2 (“Yes” in S2021), the control unit 16 of CU1 confirms whether the DU2 that has issued the speech request is a priority setting DU2p or a priority non-setting DU2n (S2022).

When the DU2 that has issued the utterance request has the priority setting DU2p (“Yes” in S2022), the control unit 16 of the CU1 allocates a predetermined voice slot and voice region to the priority setting DU2p (S2023).

When the DU2 that made the utterance request is the priority non-setting DU2n (“No” in S2022), the control unit 16 of the CU1 lists the priority non-setting DU2n in the utterance request list (S2024). The utterance request list is, for example, a table in which the DUs 2 that have made utterance requests are arranged in the order of request.

The priority non-setting DU 2n listed in the utterance request list is in a request waiting state until either one of permission and denial of the utterance request is selected. The permission or rejection of the utterance request is selected by operating the operation terminal 4 such as the chairperson.

When the permission of the utterance request is selected (“Yes” in S2025), the control unit 16 of the CU 1 sets the voice slot and the voice region in the priority non-setting DU 2n according to the setting content of either FIFO or LIFO. It is forcibly assigned (S2026). At this time, the control unit 16 of the CU 1 deletes the priority non-setting DU 2n for which the utterance request is permitted from the utterance request list (S2027).

When the utterance request is rejected (“No” in S2025), the control unit 16 of the CU1 deletes the priority non-set DU2n from the utterance request list (S2028).

● In the conference mode “Full remote mode” As described above, in the full remote mode, the microphone on trigger of the priority non-setting DU2n is not set (OFF). That is, the priority non-setting DU 2n cannot make a speech request. The microphone-on-trigger of the priority setting DU2p is set in advance in either the automatic mode or the manual mode.

FIG. 44 is a flowchart showing information processing of CU1 in the full remote mode.
First, the control unit 16 of the CU 1 waits for either the utterance request from the DU 2 or the request from the operation terminal 4 (“No” in S2031). When there is a request (“Yes” in S2031), the control unit 16 of the CU1 confirms whether the request is the utterance request from the DU2 or the request from the operation terminal 4 (S2032). As described above, only the priority setting DU2p requests the utterance. The request from the operation terminal 4 is issued to the priority non-setting DU 2n.

When the request is an utterance request (“Utterance request” in S2032), the control unit 16 of the CU 1 allocates a predetermined voice slot and voice region to the priority setting DU2p that has made the utterance request (S2033).

When the request is a request from the operation terminal 4 (“terminal operation” in S2032), the control unit 16 of the CU1 confirms the vacancy between the voice slot and the voice area (S2034).

When there is a vacant voice slot (“Yes” in S2034), the control unit 16 of the CU1 allocates a vacant voice slot and a voice region to the priority non-setting DU2n whose utterance is requested by the operation terminal 4 (S2035). ).

When there is no space between the voice slot and the voice area (“NO” in S2034), the control unit 16 of the CU1 sets the voice slot and the voice area in the priority non-setting DU2n according to the setting content of either FIFO or LIFO. And are forcibly assigned (S2036).

Summary of Conference Modes As described above, the conference system S includes a plurality of selectable conference modes in which the settings of the microphone-on-trigger mode and the override mode are combined. Therefore, for example, an employee of the general affairs department who prepares for the operation setting of the conference system S immediately before the start of the conference can be easily selected by appropriately selecting the optimal conference mode from a plurality of conference modes. Then, the operation setting of the conference system S can be prepared.

● Input screen of operating terminal ●
Various control information for controlling the operation of the conference system S is input, for example, via the input screen displayed on the display unit 44 of the operation terminal 4 and stored in the storage unit 13 of the CU 1. The input screen is a screen used by a system administrator or the like when inputting/changing control information. That is, for example, the input screen is a screen for inputting the settings of CU1 and DU2. As described above, the control information includes, for example, information about the system settings of the conference system S, information about the priority, a speech request list, and the like. The control unit 46 of the operation terminal 4 reads out the control information corresponding to the input screen from the storage unit 13 of the CU 1 and displays it on the display unit 44.

The input screen includes, for example, a conference system initial setting screen (hereinafter referred to as “initial screen”), a conference preparation screen (hereinafter referred to as “preparation screen”), a conference progress screen (hereinafter referred to as “progress screen”), including. The control unit 46 of the operation terminal 4 selects one input screen based on a predetermined condition described later. That is, for example, the control unit 46 determines whether or not a predetermined condition is satisfied, and based on the result of the determination, the input screen displayed on the display unit 44 includes an initial screen, a preparation screen, and a progress screen. To choose from. The predetermined conditions are, for example, the state of physical/communication connection between CU1 and DU2 (whether or not there is connection), completion of setting of specific items, occurrence of abnormal connection state of DU2, and specific DU ( For example, the connection state of an interpreter unit). That is, for example, the control unit 46 determines whether or not the specific control information among the plurality of control information is stored in the storage unit 13 of the CU 1, and whether or not the DU 2 is connected to the unit connection unit 12b. The result of the determination, whether the specific DU2 of the plurality of DU2 is connected to the unit connecting portion 12b, or the connection abnormality of the DU2 connected to the unit connecting portion 12b occurs. The input screen displayed on the display unit 44 is selected based on the result of the determination as to whether or not it is present.

FIG. 45 is a schematic diagram showing a selection screen of the input screen displayed on the display unit 44 of the operation terminal 4 included in the conference system S.
In the figure, items that can be selected are indicated by solid lines, and items that cannot be selected are indicated by broken lines.

When the conference system S is activated, a selection screen is displayed on the display unit 44 of the operation terminal 4. The selection screen is, for example, a screen for the system administrator or a person who prepares for the operation setting of the conference system S to select any one of the initial screen, the preparation screen, and the progress screen. ..

The input screen that is selectably displayed on the selection screen changes, for example, according to the communication state between the CU 1 and the DU 2. That is, for example, when the CU1 and DU2 is impossible communication, of the input screen displayed on the selection screen, only the initial screen can be selected. The state in which CU1 and DU2 cannot communicate means, for example, a state in which DU2 is not connected to CU1. When CU1 and DU2 can communicate with each other, the preparation screen and the progress screen can be selected from the input screens displayed on the selection screen. The state in which CU1 and DU2 can communicate means, for example, a state in which DU2 is connected to CU1. The input screen that is selectably displayed on the selection screen is determined by the control unit 46 of the operation terminal 4. In this way, the selectable input screen changes according to predetermined conditions, making it easy for the person who inputs information to select the input screen and performing various settings based on the predetermined conditions. As a result, erroneous operations and erroneous inputs such as inconsistent settings can be reduced.

In the selection screen according to the present embodiment, the selectable input screen may change depending on, for example, authentication information input to the login screen.

Further, the selection screen may display, for example, a screen on which information regarding priority setting is input when the CU 1 and the plurality of DUs 2 can communicate with each other.

Furthermore, the selection screen may display, for example, a screen on which communication information is input to the initial screen when the CU 1 and the plurality of DUs 2 cannot communicate with each other.

Furthermore, the selection screen may have a mode in which, for example, when a DU corresponding to a specific use such as an interpreter unit is connected to the CU 1, a screen for inputting information regarding settings corresponding to the specific use is displayed.

Furthermore, the input screen that can be selected on the selection screen is not limited to this embodiment. That is, for example, the input screen selectable on the selection screen may include other input screens such as a maintenance screen.

Initial Screen FIG. 46 is a schematic diagram of the initial screen.
The initial screen is, for example, a screen for the system administrator to input/change the settings of the conference system S. The information displayed on the initial screen is information related to the system settings of the conference system S, for example, communication information used by the CU1 to identify the DU2 (for communication between the CU1 and the DU2) such as a subnet mask, and firmware. This is information for initial setting of the conference system S such as information and CU1 terminal setting information.

Completion of information input on the initial screen enables communication between CU1 and DU2. When the input of information is completed on the initial screen, the preparation screen and the progress screen can be selected on the selection screen.

Preparation screen FIG. 47 is a schematic diagram of the preparation screen.
The preparation screen is, for example, a screen on which a person who prepares for the operation setting of the conference system S inputs the setting of each DU 2. The information displayed on the preparation screen is unit setting information of each DU 2, for example, information regarding priority setting, information regarding microphone on-trigger setting, notification information such as emission color of the light emitting unit 28 of DU 2, and the like. These pieces of information are displayed in the preparation screen in association with the relative ID of the DU 2, for example.

The unit setting information displayed on the preparation screen, for example, the unit setting information of the DU2 connected to the CU1 in the past, is the information stored in the unit setting information DB. On the other hand, the unit setting information of the DU2 newly connected to the CU1 is the factory setting (initial value) of the DU2 as described above.

FIG. 48 is a schematic diagram of a preparation screen after information input.
In the figure, the information newly input from the preparation screen shown in FIG. 47 is underlined.

-Progress screen Fig. 49 is a schematic diagram of the progress screen.
The progress screen is a screen in which, for example, a person such as a chairperson who advances the conference inputs information for controlling the operation of each DU 2. The information displayed on the progress screen is information regarding control of each DU 2, such as information regarding a speech request list or conference mode.

The progress screen is used, for example, by the chairperson when the request talk mode or the full remote mode of the conference mode is selected. For example, the operation terminal 4 displays the utterance request list on the progress screen, and allows the chairman to select whether to permit or reject the utterance request on the progress screen.

Summary of Input Screens As described above, in the conference system S, one input screen is selected by the control unit 46 of the operation terminal 4 based on a predetermined condition. Therefore, the conference system S avoids a contradiction between the input settings. That is, the conference system according to the present embodiment realizes reliable setting work with a simple configuration.

Each input screen in the present invention may have a GUI (Graphic User Interface) display mode that differs depending on the item displayed on the screen. That is, for example, the conference system S may display the initial screen in the accordion format, the preparation screen in the wizard format, and the progress screen in the tab format.

Further, in each input screen in the present invention, items displayed on the display unit 44 may be different depending on the authority of the person who operates the operation terminal 4. As a result, the input or change of information different from the authority of the person who operates the operation terminal 4 is prevented.

[Summary] According to the embodiment described above, the conference system S periodically transmits the packet including the counter flag from the CU1 to the DU2, and stores the information stored in the database in which the relative ID and the absolute ID are associated with each other. Update. In the conference system S, even if the connection abnormality occurs in the DU 2 and the relative ID is changed, the association between the relative ID and the absolute ID is updated. Therefore, information such as voice information before and after the change of the connection state of the DU 2 There is no discrepancy. That is, the conference system according to the present invention can reliably manage the connection state between the CU and the DU 2 and continuously acquire information from the DU when a connection abnormality occurs.

Further, according to the embodiment described above, the conference system S automatically changes the priority setting when the CUs 1 are connected or disconnected. Therefore, in the conference system according to the present invention, the above-mentioned inconsistent state does not occur. Further, the conference system according to the present invention does not require the system administrator to set the priority according to the connection state of the CUs. Therefore, the conference system according to the present invention reduces the burden of system administrator's priority resetting.

Further, according to the embodiment described above, the conference system S takes in the utterance request from the DU2 by the process of the periodical request flag and causes the CU1 to transmit the command in accordance with the vacancy of the voice slot and the voice region. .. That is, the conference system S does not transmit the command from the DU2 to the CU1 every time the utterance request is made. Therefore, the conference system according to the present invention does not receive an excessive information processing load even if a plurality of DUs make utterance requests at the same time. As a result, the conferencing system S according to the present invention does not require high processing capability as compared with a system in which the DU receives a command from the CU each time a speech request is made.

Furthermore, according to the embodiment described above, the DU 2 that has requested the utterance automatically enters the request waiting state when there is no space in the voice slot and the voice area. Therefore, the conference system according to the present invention does not need to respond to all utterance requests on software, and the load of information processing on software is reduced.

Furthermore, according to the embodiment described above, in the conference system S, one input screen is selected by the control unit 46 of the operation terminal 4 based on a predetermined condition. Therefore, the conference system according to the present invention can avoid the contradiction between the contents set by the person who inputs information. That is, the conference system according to the present invention realizes reliable setting work with a simple configuration.

Furthermore, according to the embodiment described above, the conference system S selects the conference mode in which the override and the microphone-on-trigger are associated with each other, thereby assigning a voice slot and a voice region of each DU2. Set request flag addition method. Therefore, for example, even a person who does not require specialized knowledge, such as an operator, can easily select the optimum conference mode from a plurality of conference modes based on the content of the conference, the configuration of participants, etc. You can prepare for operation settings. That is, the conference system according to the present invention is excellent in convenience of setting work.

●Summary of the conference system according to the present invention●
The features of the conference system according to the present invention described above will be summarized below.

(Characteristic 1)
Control unit (CU1),
A discussion unit (DU2),
An operation terminal (operation terminal 4),
Have
The discussion unit sends audio information to the control unit,
The operation terminal is connected to each of the control unit and the discussion unit via a communication line,
The control unit is
Storage unit (storage unit 13),
Equipped with
The operating terminal is
A display unit (display unit 44),
A control unit (control unit 46),
Equipped with
The storage unit stores a plurality of control information for controlling the operations of the control unit and the discussion unit,
The display unit displays one input screen of a plurality of input screens to which any of the plurality of control information is input,
The control unit selects the input screen displayed on the display unit from among the plurality of input screens based on a predetermined condition,
A conference system characterized by that.

(Feature 2)
The control unit determines whether or not specific control information among the plurality of control information is stored in the storage unit, and based on a result of the determination, displays the input screen displayed on the display unit. select,
The conference system according to feature 1.

(Characteristic 3)
The control unit is
Connection part (unit connection part 12b),
Equipped with
The discussion unit is connected to the connection unit,
The conference system according to feature 1.

(Feature 4)
The control unit determines whether the discussion unit is connected to the connection unit, and selects the input screen displayed on the display unit based on the result of the determination,
The conference system described in Feature 3.

(Characteristic 5)
A plurality of the discussion units are connected to the connection part,
The control unit determines whether or not a specific discussion unit among the plurality of discussion units is connected to the connection unit, and based on the result of the determination, the input screen displayed on the display unit. Select,
The conference system described in Feature 3.

(Characteristic 6)
The control unit determines whether or not a connection abnormality has occurred in the discussion unit connected to the connection unit, and selects the input screen displayed on the display unit based on the result of the determination. To do
The conference system described in Feature 3.

(Feature 7)
The plurality of control information,
Communication information used by the control unit to identify the discussion unit,
Including
The control unit causes the display unit to display the input screen on which the communication information is input when the discussion unit is not connected to the connection unit.
The conference system described in Feature 3.

(Feature 8)
The plurality of control information,
Priority authority (priority) information indicating the priority of transmission of the audio information from the discussion unit to the control unit,
Including
The control unit causes the display unit to display the input screen for inputting the priority authority information when a plurality of the discussion units are connected to the connection unit.
The conference system according to any one of features 3 to 7.

(Characteristic 9)
The plurality of input screens are
An initial screen in which the setting information of the control unit is input,
A preparation screen in which the setting information of the discussion unit is input,
A progress screen in which control information for controlling the operation of the discussion unit is input,
including,
The conference system according to feature 1.

S conference system 1 control unit (CU)
2 Discussion unit (DU)
3 Microphone 4 Operating terminal 11 Communication unit (CU communication unit)
12 connection unit 13 storage unit (CU storage unit)
14 display unit 15 operation unit 16 control unit (CU control unit)
20 case 21 communication unit (DU communication unit)
22 connection unit 23 storage unit 24 display unit 25 operation unit 26 control unit (DU control unit)
27 speaker 28 light emitting portion 28a first light emitting portion 28b second light emitting portion

Claims (7)

Control unit,
A discussion unit,
An operating terminal,
Have
The discussion unit sends audio information to the control unit,
The operation terminal is connected to each of the control unit and the discussion unit via a communication line,
The control unit is
Storage part,
A connection part to which the discussion unit is connected,
Equipped with
The operating terminal is
Display part,
A control unit,
Equipped with
The storage unit stores a plurality of control information for controlling the operations of the control unit and the discussion unit,
The display unit displays one input screen of a plurality of input screens to which any of the plurality of control information is input,
The control unit selects an input screen displayed on the display unit from the plurality of input screens based on a predetermined condition,
The plurality of control information,
Priority authority information indicating a priority of transmission of the audio information from the discussion unit to the control unit,
Including
The control unit causes the display unit to display an input screen to which the priority authority information is input among the plurality of input screens when a plurality of the discussion units are connected to the connection unit,
A conference system characterized by that. The control unit determines whether or not specific control information among the plurality of control information is stored in the storage unit, and based on a result of the determination, displays the input screen displayed on the display unit. select,
The conference system according to claim 1. The control unit determines whether or not the discussion unit is connected to the connection unit, and selects an input screen displayed on the display unit from the plurality of input screens based on a result of the determination. ,
The conference system according to claim 1. A plurality of the discussion units are connected to the connection unit,
The control unit determines whether or not a specific discussion unit of the plurality of discussion units is connected to the connection unit, and based on the result of the determination, the display unit of the plurality of input screens. Select the input screen displayed in,
The conference system according to claim 1. The control unit determines whether or not a connection abnormality of the discussion unit connected to the connection unit has occurred, and displays the plurality of input screens on the display unit based on the result of the determination. Select the input screen that will be
The conference system according to claim 1. The plurality of control information,
Communication information used by the control unit to identify the discussion unit,
Including
The control unit displays the input screen on which the communication information is input on the display unit when the discussion unit is not connected to the connection unit,
The conference system according to claim 2. The plurality of input screens are
An initial screen in which the setting information of the control unit is input,
A preparation screen in which the setting information of the discussion unit is input,
A progress screen in which control information for controlling the operation of the discussion unit is input,
including,
The conference system according to claim 1.

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