JPH03214956A - Video conference equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To reproduce a sound field at a conference on a sender side with fidelity on a receiver side by allowing a sound field reproducing device to distribute and supply voice signals of a prescribed sound volume to each of plural sound speakers so as to obtain an equal sound field to that in a conference at a point of a sender side when the voice signal synthesized based on a sound volume balance state signal is reproduced. CONSTITUTION:When a sound of a conference is picked up by plural sound collection devices 1a, 1b, 1c at one point of a sender side, the voice signals are synthesized by a voice synthesizer 2A and outputted as one synthesized sound (analog quantity) and the sound volumes of the voice signals are compared by a voice comparator 9A and a sound volume balance state signal (analog quantity) is outputted. On the other hand, a coder/decoder transmitter 3B of other point decodes a video signal, an audio signal and the sound volume balance state signal sent through a communication line 5, and the decoded synthesized voice signal is distributed into two voice signals with the same sound field as that obtained at one point by using the decoded sound volume balance state signal similarly by a sound field reproducing device 10B while the sound volume is varied.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a television conference device used to hold a conference between multiple locations while communicating images and sounds through a communication line.

[Conventional technology]

Figure 3 shows, for example, Mitsubishi Electric Technical Report Vol. 59・h11・l
985 is a block connection diagram showing a conventional video conference device shown in FIG.
d, le, if are multiple audio collectors installed at two conference points, 2A, 2B are audio collectors 1a, lb, lc
and a voice synthesizer that synthesizes the voices from 1d, 1e, and If; 4A, 4B are video shooting devices that shoot video of the conference;
3A, 3B are encoding/decoding/transmission devices, which receive the video signals from the video shooting devices 4A, 4B and the audio synthesizer 2.
The audio signals from A and 2B are encoded and output to the communication line 5, and at the same time, the video and audio signals supplied from the outside through this communication line 5 are decoded. 6A,
6B is a video display device for reproducing and displaying video signals obtained from the encoding/decoding/transmission device 1!3A and 3B, 7A,
7B is an audio amplifier that amplifies the audio signals obtained from the encoding/decoding/transmission devices 3A and 3B, and 8a, 8b, 8c, and 8d are multiple units that amplify and output the audio from the audio amplifiers 7A and 7B. There are two audio loudspeakers.

In other words, conference equipment with the same configuration can be used at multiple locations, here 2
A number of locations are provided, and these locations are connected by a communication line 5.

Next, the operation will be explained. First, when the audio of a meeting is collected by multiple audio collectors 1a, lb, and lc at one location, the audio signals are input to two audio synthesizers and synthesized with each other to produce one synthesized sound. The signal is input to the encoding/decoding/transmission device 3A as follows. In addition to this audio signal, a video signal from the video imaging device 4A is also input to the encoding/decoding transmission device W3A. Therefore, this encoding/decoding/transmission device 3A encodes these audio signals and video signals, and then sends them to another point on the other party's side through the communication line 5. on the other hand,
At the other points mentioned above, the audio signal and the video signal are each decoded by the encoding/decoding/transmission device 3B, and the video signal is reproduced and displayed by the video display device 6B. Also, the audio signal is amplified by an audio amplifier 7B and sent to two audio loudspeakers 8c and 8.
It is reproduced and output from d. Further, in a similar operation, a signal can be transmitted from the other point to the one point, thereby conducting a video conference between the two points.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

Since the conventional video conference device is configured as described above, a plurality of sound collectors 1a, lb, lc, ld, le,
The audio from if is simply synthesized as is, transmitted as one synthesized sound, and transmitted to two audio loudspeakers 8c, 8 at the destination point.
d, 8a, and 8b as reproduced sounds at the same volume, there was a problem that the sound field at the conference on the transmitting side could not be faithfully reproduced on the receiving side.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to obtain a television conference device that can more faithfully reproduce the sound field on the transmitting side in a conference on the receiving side.

[Means to solve the problem]

The video conference device according to the present invention captures a video of a meeting using a video capturing device, collects the audio of the meeting using a plurality of audio collectors, synthesizes the collected audio using an audio synthesizer, and , the volumes of these voices are compared to generate a volume balance status signal from a volume comparator, and these video signals, audio signals, and volume balance status signals are encoded by an encoding/decoding/transmission device and sent to a communication line. On the other hand, this encoding/decoding/transmission device decodes the video signal, audio signal, and volume balance status signal supplied from the communication line, and the decoded video signal is played back and displayed by the video display device, and similarly The decoded audio signal and volume ratio status signal are distributed and supplied to and reproduced by a plurality of audio loudspeakers so that the audio signal has a volume ratio that allows a predetermined sound field to be obtained from the sound field regenerator. be.

[Effect]

The sound field regenerator according to the present invention has a plurality of audio amplification systems so as to obtain a sound field equivalent to the sound field in a conference at the transmitting side point when reproducing the audio signal synthesized based on the volume balance state signal. An audio signal of a predetermined volume is distributed and supplied to each of the devices.

[Embodiments of the invention]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1st
In the figure, la, lb, lc and 1d, Is, If
is multiple audio collectors installed at two conference points, 2A
, 2B are audio synthesizers at each location, 3A, 3B are encoding/decoding/transmission devices, 4A, 4B are video capture devices at each location, 5 is a communication line, 6A, 6B are video display devices, 7
C, 7D are audio amplifiers for multiple channels, 8A, 8B
is an audio loudspeaker connected to audio amplifiers 7C and 7D for each channel. Each of these circuit parts basically has the same configuration and function as the conventional one. Also, 9A,
Reference numeral 9B denotes a volume comparator connected between the audio sound collectors 1a to 1c and 1d to 1f and the encoding/decoding/transmitting devices 3A and 3B, which generate a volume balance state signal by comparing audio volumes. . IOA and IOB are sound field regenerators connected between the encoding/decoding/transmitting devices 3A, 3B and the audio amplifiers 7C, 7D, respectively, and these are obtained through the encoding/decoding/transmitting devices 3A, 3B. Based on the audio signal and the volume balance state signal, the audio signal is distributed and supplied to each of the audio loudspeakers 8C, 8d and 8a, 8b so that a predetermined sound field has a volume that can be obtained at the receiving side point. .

Next, the operation will be explained. When the voices of the conference are collected by the plurality of voice collectors 1a, Lb, lc at one point on the transmitting side, the voice signals are synthesized with each other by the voice synthesizer 2A, and one synthesized sound ( At the same time, the volume comparator 9A compares the volume between each audio signal, and outputs a volume balance state signal (analog value). These two audio information signals, the audio signal and the volume balance state signal, are both input to the encoding/decoding/transmission device 3A. Furthermore, in addition to the audio signal, a video signal from the video imaging device 4A is also input to the encoding/decoding/transmission device 113A, and each of these audio signals and video signals is encoded by the encoding/decoding/transmission device 3A. Then, it is sent through the communication line 5 to another point on the other side of the conference. On the other hand, at the other point, the encoding/decoding/transmission device 3B decodes the video signal, audio signal, and volume balance status signal sent via the communication line 5, and the video signal is sent to the video display device 6B. will be played. In addition, the decoded synthetic audio signal is sent to the sound field regenerator 10B,
Based on the similarly decoded volume balance status signal, the above
The volume is varied and distributed into two audio signals of the same sound field as the sound field obtained at one point. Then, the audio signals distributed to these two are amplified by the audio amplifier 7D,
The two audio loudspeakers 8d and 8c reproduce the sound at independent volumes corresponding to the sound field on the transmitting side. Further, in a similar manner, signals can be transmitted from the other points to the above one point, thereby making it possible to conduct a video conference between the two points. FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the invention.

In this embodiment, the volume comparators 9A and 9B are configured to be controlled based on the imaging field of view signals output by the video imaging devices 4A and 4B. That is, the volume comparators 9A and 9B generate volume ratio signals, which are the corresponding sound field components, in accordance with the imaging field of view signal obtained by the video imaging devices 4A and 4B zooming in from close positions and full-screen photography from a long distance. and output. Therefore, at other points on the receiving side, the sound field regenerator 10A,
10B reproduces an audio signal at a predetermined level and distributes and supplies it to each audio loudspeaker 8c, 8d, 8a, 8b independently. For example, in the case of full-screen shooting, some of the audio loudspeakers 8a, 8b or 8c, 8d may output high-level audio while the others have low-level audio output, or in the case of enlarged shooting, each of the audio loudspeakers 8a, 8b, 8c, 8d
All of 8b, 8c, and 8d may be at the same level.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the synthesized speech signal and the volume balance state signal have been explained as analog signals, but these are output as digital signals from the speech synthesizers 2A, 2B and the volume comparators 9A, 9B, and are then encoded, decoded, and transmitted. It is sent to devices 3A and 3B, and on the receiving side it is encoded, decoded and transmitted to device 3.
A, 3B are output as digital signals, and 1 is output using a digital/analog converter or multiplier.
The two synthesized audio signals may be independently distributed with variable volume into two audio reproduction signals using the volume balance state signal.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, a video of a meeting is captured by a video camera, the audio of the meeting is collected by a plurality of audio collectors, and the collected audio is synthesized by an audio synthesizer. At the same time, the volumes of these voices are compared to generate a volume balance status signal from a volume comparator, and these video signals, audio signals, and volume balance status signals are encoded by an encoding/decoding/transmission device and sent to a communication line. death,
On the other hand, this encoding/decoding/transmission device decodes the video signal, audio signal, and volume balance status signal supplied from the communication line, and the decoded video signal is played back and displayed by the video display device, and is similarly decoded. Based on the obtained audio signal and the volume balance state signal, the audio signal is distributed and supplied to the plurality of audio loudspeakers so that the volume ratio is such that a predetermined sound field is obtained from the sound field regenerator. This has the effect that the sound field of a conference at one point on the transmitting side can be reproduced with high fidelity at another point on the receiving side.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block connection diagram showing a video conference device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block connection diagram showing a video conference device according to another embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 3 is a conventional video conference device. This is a block connection diagram showing. 1a to 1f are a plurality of audio sound collectors, 2A and 2B are audio synthesizers, 3A and 3B are encoding/decoding/transmission devices, 4A and 4B are video shooting devices, 5 is a communication line, and 6A and 6B are video display devices. , 8a to 8d are audio loudspeakers, 9A and 9B are volume comparators, and IOA and IOB are sound field regenerators. In addition, in the figures, the same symbols indicate the same or equivalent parts. 10-1f: Sound of compound bamboo P Solitary sound number 9A, 98: Sound! Comparator/10A, 108: Sound generator

Claims (1)

[Claims] A video capture device that captures video of the meeting, multiple audio collectors that collect the audio of this conference, an audio synthesizer that synthesizes the audio from these audio collectors, and a volume comparison of these audios. a volume comparator that generates a volume balance state signal, and encodes the video signal from the video imaging device, the audio signal from the audio synthesizer, and the volume balance state signal from the volume comparator and outputs it to a communication line. With,
On the other hand, there is an encoding/decoding/transmission device that decodes video signals, audio signals, and volume balance status signals supplied from the outside through this communication line, and a video signal obtained through this encoding/decoding/transmission device is reproduced. Based on the video display device to be displayed and the audio signal and volume balance status signal obtained through the encoding/decoding/transmission device, audio is transmitted to multiple audio loudspeakers so that the volume is at a level that provides a predetermined sound field. A video conferencing device with sound field regenerators installed at multiple locations to distribute and supply signals.