JP2768055B2 - Conference call service - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a conference telephone service in which an existing monaural telephone terminal and an ISDN terminal capable of receiving left and right two-channel audio are accommodated in a mixed manner. The present invention relates to a telephone system of a conference telephone service.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional communication system of a conference telephone service, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 60-38961 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 52770 discloses a telephone system for a conference telephone service. In these prior arts, the terminal is a pair of transmission and reception, one ear, and one terminal for each subscriber.
Since a plurality of monaural voices of the line were added by the conference telephone device and the subscriber was allowed to hear the monaural voice, there was no sense of direction and lacked the real feeling of the conference. Furthermore, an increase in the number of additions causes a decrease in voice quality. Also,
In a conference using a telephone terminal, there is no communication system of a conference telephone service in which an existing one-way telephone and a telephone terminal capable of receiving left and right two-channel audio are mixed.

[0003]

As described above, the above-mentioned prior art has a problem that an added voice receiving service in which an azimuth between two left and right channels is provided cannot be performed.

[0004] Therefore, in order to give a sense of realism to a conference, it is conceivable to install a plurality of speakers and microphones in a multipoint conference room connected by a communication line to reproduce a plurality of channels. However, in this case, a conference call with a realistic feeling can be provided by the binaural effect, but cannot be realized by using a general and economical terminal such as a telephone.
Since it is necessary to prepare not only the microphone but also the conference room, there is a problem that the number of subscribers that can be installed is limited.

[0005] In addition, in the existing conference service, since the mixed accommodation of the existing one-way telephone and the telephone terminal capable of receiving the left and right two-channel voices is not considered, the transition from the existing one to the two-channel voice reception for the left and right ears is also performed. There were problems such as being unable to do so.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a real-world conference telephone service call with an economical configuration and simple settings, and to provide a telephone conference call regardless of existing two-channel receiving terminals for left and right ears. Is to make it possible.

[0007] To achieve the above object, the communication device of the conference call service of the present invention, in the communication apparatus of the conference call service between three parties or more subscribers, the three-way or more subscribers
In the communication device of the telephone conference service, each subscriber 1 line
Monitor the level of each call voice signal for each subscriber line.
Audio level detection circuit, and each audio signal of each subscriber line.
Signal, the audio signal of one ear whose arrival time is slow
Each of the subscribers' audio signals,
To provide the desired delay between the signals and the two
Lines and output the left and right binaural audio signals with a time difference
Receiving the audio signal of one of the delay circuit and the delay circuit,
Other voices other than your own voice can be
From other subscribers who add to each subscriber's right ear
And a delay circuit for outputting the audio of the right ear.
Receiving the voice signal of the
Other voices other than the voice are added together and received by the left ear
A left ear adder that outputs audio from the
Number of participants, subscriber accommodation line and image of participants' conference seats
Device with response information and binaural audio arrival time difference information for each line
And the subscriber line of the above equipment and the conference
The above-mentioned delay by receiving the correspondence information and the binaural sound arrival time difference information
A control circuit for controlling the circuit is provided, and one line sound of each subscriber is provided.
The voice is divided into left and right two-line voices and provided to the subscriber as conference-added voices having a sense of direction based on the time difference between the two-line voices.

[0008]

The received voice having the sense of azimuth of two lines (channels) based on the left and right ear voice arrival time difference information obtained by calculating the transmission voice of one line (channel) from the image of the conference seat set from the upper level by a fixed calculation method. A delay circuit that converts the audio into audio data for the left and right ears and a summation circuit that adds the audio for the left and right ears are provided for the subscriber. Can be determined.

When the subscriber is an existing one-way telephone set, the sound of the two lines (channels) for the left and right ears is simply added to attenuate the level, and the transmission is controlled by one line (channel). Thus, it is possible to transmit the added voice according to the subscriber terminal type.

[0010] Further, in the upper center, a conference position image is set from the number of participants and the shape of the conference table designated by the organizer, and the left and right of each participating subscriber from other participating subscribers is set. Calculating the ear-voice arrival time difference information and sending it to the control circuit of the conference phone from the center at the start of the conference provides an economical and easy-to-use conference phone service and the flexibility to select any conference configuration. Can be secured.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

The first and second embodiments will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a conference seat position image in one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows a principle diagram of a binaural sound arrival time difference in one embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a telephone terminal capable of receiving two-channel voices for left and right ears, 2 denotes an existing one-way telephone terminal, 3 denotes a known digital exchange, 4 denotes a conference telephone device, and 5 denotes multiplexing of exchanges. A communication path interface 6 opposed to the specified communication path, constantly monitors the digitized transmission voice level of each subscriber for each subscriber line (channel or highway time slot), and detects the level. The level detection circuit 7 separates a monaural (one line) audio signal from each line into two lines (channels) for the left and right ears, and a difference in arrival time between the left and right ears of each subscriber line (channel) designated by the upper center. According to the information, in each line (channel), a delay circuit for delaying the ear-side audio signal whose arrival time is slow from the other-ear audio signal, and a delay circuit 8 for causing the right ear of each subscriber to receive the voice from the other subscriber The addition circuit 9 for the right ear for calculating, the addition circuit 9 for the left ear for similarly adding the voice from the other subscribers which is received by the left ear, and the reference numeral 10 the number of conference participants and the arrival of the left and right ear voices of each channel from the center device. Upon receiving the time difference information, based on the information, a delay circuit in the conference apparatus, a control circuit for controlling addition of voice, HA, H
B to HN are hybrids for converting transmission / reception voice of a telephone from four lines to line information of two lines.

At the time of the conference, the center sets the number of conference participants set in advance by the organizer, the subscriber accommodating line and the conference seat image correspondence information in the control circuit 10 of the conference telephone device 4. In the control circuit, for example, the NO.
One line is conference seat A, NO. Two lines are conference seats B ..., NO.
The correspondence between the line and the position is set based on the correspondence information in which the line n is designated as the conference seat F, and the like. Based on the fixedly associated azimuth angles of B,... F with respect to the subscriber conference seat position A of one line, a left-right ear sound arrival time difference information (value calculated from the actual measurement result of Federson) table is created.
NO. Correlate with one line. Similarly, for A,... F and other conference seat positions for B, a left-right ear sound arrival time difference information table from the other participant positions is created and associated with each line. In this state, the telephone terminal 1 capable of receiving the two-channel sound for the left and right ears receives the NO. After a monaural voice using one line passes through the exchange 3, it is digitized to a multiplexed highway and input to the communication interface 5.

When transmitted from the communication path interface 5 to the delay circuit 7, the audio level of each line (channel) is monitored by the audio level detection circuit 6, and the audio level is monitored and notified to the control circuit 10 as level information. In the control circuit 10,
In order to determine the number of additional persons determined from the number of participants, the additional lines (meeting seat positions) are selected in descending order of level.

On the other hand, the monaural sound of each line input to the delay circuit 7 is split into two lines for the left and right ears.
Based on the left and right ear audio arrival time difference information associated with each line at 0, the audio signal of the line corresponding to the ear that arrives later is delayed to add the left ear addition circuit 9 and the right ear addition. Input to the circuit 8. These two adders have adders (buffers) corresponding to the subscriber lines, and buffer delay-controlled voice information from other participating subscribers. When adding this buffered sound to both lines for each line, the line containing the own sound is
In accordance with an instruction from the control unit 10, the line is excluded from the target, and only the lines (meeting seat positions) selected and added from the other control circuits 10 are added and the level is attenuated. Send to line. The receiving lines are two lines (channels) for the left and right ears corresponding to the subscribers, and are multiplexed for each of the left and right subscribers and transmitted. The added audio signal for both ears is multiplexed and demultiplexed as two binaural lines for each subscriber by the exchange via the communication path interface 5 and sent to all conference participants. Conference participants can hear the added voice for the left and right ear, which was given the time difference of the selected subscriber from the left and right ear audio channel receiver that can be telephone terminal 1 in both ears
You .

A second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1 to 10 are omitted because they have been described in the first embodiment. Reference numeral 11 denotes a receiver which is multiplexed for the subscriber line for each of the left and right ears from the left and right ear addition circuit, adds both of the two channels of left and right ear addition voices, attenuates the level, and forms a pair with the transmission voice. A left and right audio channel addition circuit 11 for transmitting to one line.

At the time of a conference call, NO. If the terminal connected to the n-th line is an existing one-way telephone terminal 2, the center sends NO. The designation of the n-line terminal as the existing one-way telephone terminal 2 is given by the conference telephone device 4.
Of the control circuit 10. As described in the first embodiment, the principle of NO. The received voice to the n-line is sent out from the left and right ear addition circuit through two lines (channels).
0 in the left and right audio channel addition circuit 11 by the designation of NO.
The sound of the two channels for the left and right ears of the n lines is added to both channels, the level is attenuated, and transmitted to one receiving line (channel) paired with the transmitting line. A non-speech signal is transmitted to another reception line (channel).

This voice is transmitted to the exchange 3 via the communication path interface 5 and is transmitted to the exchange 3 at the NO. It is transmitted to the n lines and is heard by the participating subscribers as a quasi-monaural conference addition voice from the receiver of the existing one-way telephone terminal. A third embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, and 3. FIG. As described in the first embodiment, the binaural audio arrival time difference information of each channel is stored in a control circuit in the conference apparatus based on a fixed image of a conference seat so that the circuit is not complicated and large. It had binaural sound arrival time difference information for the maximum value of the line. In other words, each line (participant) at the maximum line capacity has all arrival time difference values of binaural sounds heard from other lines (other participants), but the image of the conference seat is one type and the number of participants is The only variable is the difference between large and small. Third
In this embodiment, the center device calculates binaural sound arrival time difference information from an image of an arbitrary conference position (seat) and sends it to the conference telephone device.

First, when the conference organizer sets the image of the conference seat position (the number of people and the configuration of the conference table) from his / her own telephone in advance, the contents are registered in the center device. In FIG. Shows an example of a conference seat position image of six participants. The number of persons and the configuration of the conference can be set arbitrarily below the number of terminals (maximum number of channels) accommodated in the conference telephone device. The image of the conference table is set arbitrarily based on the combination of the type of conference table (round table, square table, rectangular table) and the number of participants.

At the time of holding a conference, necessary setting contents are transferred from the center to the control circuit 10 of the conference telephone device 4. The transfer information is the number of persons (including TEL NO) and, as will be described later, time difference information between the left and right channel sounds of each terminal.

Each conference participant's line is connected to a physical terminal (channel) of the conference telephone device. In the example shown in FIG. Connection to one line (channel), the same applies to BF hereinafter.

In this connection, (A to F) the telephone sound from each terminal is input in monaural, so that the sound has no sense of direction. Therefore, in order to give a sense of direction, the monaural sound is divided into two channels corresponding to the left and right ears, and a time difference is given to give a sense of direction.

This principle is based on the following principle described in "New Edition of Hearing and Speech; Supervised by Dr. T. Miura" published by the Institute of Electronics and Communication Engineers.

The sound heard by both ears causes a difference in the propagation path depending on the direction. The distance difference d can be approximated from FIG.

D = r (θ + Sinθ)
(1) By applying the above principle, information on the time difference (t) of arrival of sound to both ears of each participant (channel) can be set as follows.

T [s] = r (θ + Sinθ) / 340
.. (2) r: radius of the head = 0.085 m θ: azimuth angle of the speaker from the front of the listener Based on FIG. Table 1 shows the results.

[0027] Similarly, the voice arrival time difference is also obtained for the participants B to F, and the time difference information is transferred from the center to the control circuit 10 of the conference telephone device 4 at the start of the service, so that the time difference information can be arbitrarily set for each conference service. The time difference can be set.

[0028]

Since the present invention is configured as described above, it has the following effects. The conference participants can receive the two-channel sound added for the left and right ears from the monaural sound of one channel using a simple telephone terminal having two channels capable of receiving binaural sounds.
Listening to conference sounds that have a sense of direction economically, the level of communication will be improved. If the terminal is a one-way telephone terminal, the two-channel audio for both ears can be added and transmitted as a quasi-monaural audio on one channel. A conference that accommodates the transmission and reception one-to-one telephone terminals in a mixed manner is possible. Furthermore,
At the center, the organizer simply specifies the number of participants and the shape of the conference table. At the center, set an arbitrary conference seat image from the designation of the organizer, and for each participating participant, go to the left and right ears from other participants Means for calculating the voice arrival time difference information and transmitting it to the control circuit of the conference device realizes an economical and easy-to-operate conference telephone service, and can select an arbitrary conference configuration, and has flexibility. .

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an image of a conference seat position according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a principle diagram of a binaural sound arrival time difference according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Telephone terminal which can receive 2 channels of sound for left and right ears 2 ... Existing one-way telephone terminal 3 ... Digital exchange 4 ... Conference telephone device 5 ... Speech path interface 6 ... Sound level detection circuit 7 ... Delay circuit 8 ... Right Ear adder circuit 9 ... Left ear adder circuit 10 ... Control circuit 11 ... Left and right audio channel adder circuit

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁶ , DB name) H04M 3/42-3/58

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] 1. A communication device for conference call service between three parties or more subscribers, each call voice signals of each subscriber 1 line
Audio level detection circuit that monitors the level for each subscriber line
Route and each voice signal of each subscriber line, and the arrival time
The audio signal of one ear is slower than the audio signal of the other ear
The desired delay between each voice signal of each subscriber.
And split it into two lines for the left and right ears.
A delay circuit that outputs the ear audio signal with a time difference,
Receives one audio signal of the delay circuit and receives
Add voices other than your own voice as voices, and add
Right to output voice from other subscribers to the right ear
Receiving the other audio signal of the ear adder circuit and the delay circuit
In addition to the above, voices other than the own voice
Sounds from other subscribers who are added to each other and heard on the left ear
Addition circuit for left ear to output voice, number of conference participants, participants
Information on accommodated lines and participants' image of conference seats and each line
A device having binaural sound arrival time difference information of
Correspondence line and information for participants' conference seat image and both ears
A system for controlling the delay circuit in response to voice arrival time difference information.
Control circuit, and each subscriber's one-line sound is divided into left and right two-line sounds.
A telephone device for a conference telephone service which provides a subscriber with a conference-added voice having a sense of direction based on the time difference between the two-line voices. 2. A communication device for a conference telephone service according to claim 1.
In location attenuates the sound level by adding the voice of two circuits for the right and left ears to be sent to the subscriber, the left and right audio channel summing circuit delivering the addition sound one line of the subscriber side, participation from the device The left and right sounds based on the subscriber terminal designation
A means for controlling the operation and stop of the voice line voice addition function is provided, so that existing telephones and terminals capable of receiving dual-line voices for left and right ears each have one-line monaural voice and two-line sense of direction. A telephone device for a conference telephone service, characterized in that left and right ear sounds can be selected and provided. 3. A communication device for a conference telephone service according to claim 1.
In the location, participants number of subscribers to the conference telephone device, the meeting electricity
In the instrumentation <br/> location for instructing to be connected with the spoke unit telephone number of the destination and a plurality of conference table shape and means for generating a conference location image from a combination of participants subscribers, each subscriber from said image out the position angle of the other participants subscriber based on the front, left and right ears sound arrival time difference of the sound from the other <br/> participants to reach both ears of each participant subscriber under certain calculation formula means for setting the information, the left and right ears sound arrival time difference information provided and means for sending to the control circuit of the conference call device when the conference starts, participant subscribers organizer, appointed by the conference table shape specified <br A communication device for a conference telephone service, wherein a desired conference mode can be selected.