JPH08125760A - Information processing device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To provide a video conference system easy to obtain the correspondence between pictures and voice by making the volumes and phases of the voice outputted from right, left, upper and lower loudspeakers different so as to listen to the corresponding voice from directions that the respective pictures are displayed. CONSTITUTION: The figure and voice of a user are fetched as digital signals by a video camera 12 and a microphone 18 incorporated in this information processor 1 and are converted to picture information and voice information respectively by a video capturing circuit 13 and a voice circuit 14. The information is transmitted to a network 21 and the respective figures and voice are delivered through the network 21 to the processor 1. A voice control part checks where in a screen the sender of each voice is projected before turning the voice information back to the voice and outputting it. Then, the right and left balance of the volume is changed so as to make the voice of a human projected on a left side be listened to more loudly from the left loudspeaker 16 for instance.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus having a sound source circuit function and a video camera, and relates to audio output when a video conference system is constructed by connecting to a network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Information processing apparatuses represented by personal computers are known that have a function of inputting and outputting voice and images. It is possible to configure a video conference system by connecting a plurality of such information processing devices via a network or the like and transmitting audio / image data to each other. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-207449 discloses an example of a television conference system for exchanging video and audio of a plurality of people in real time via a digital communication path.

[0003]

In the conventional video conference system as described above, the video and audio of a plurality of people can be exchanged at the same time, but the encoded video data and audio data are separated and each of them is separated. Since the output section outputs independently, a plurality of voices are mixed in the voice output section, and it is difficult to correspond the video and the voice from the same sender. Therefore, when holding a video conference with a relatively large number of people, images for the number of people are displayed on the screen, and even if only one person is speaking, which image person is speaking. It was hard to understand. When multiple people start speaking at the same time, all voices are mixed evenly and output, which makes it difficult to correspond to the image of the speaker, and it is difficult to identify the speaker from the voice, making it difficult to hear. was there.

An object of the present invention is to provide a feeling that the voice of the speaker can be heard in the vicinity of the image of the speaker on the display screen, so that the image and the voice can be easily corresponded. It is to provide a video conference system.

[0005]

According to the present invention, when digitized voice data is returned to voice and output from a speaker, where on the display screen the image data sent from the same sender as the voice data is sent. Configure the display control unit and audio control unit so that you can see whether they are displayed, and the volume of the sound output from the left and right and upper and lower speakers so that you can hear the corresponding sound from the direction in which each image is displayed. And the phase is different.

[0006]

[Function] Since the left and right volume ratio and the phase of the voice are output differently for each speaker, one person's voice can be heard from the upper left direction, and another person's voice can be heard from the right middle direction. You can create a different feeling. By associating the direction in which such a sound is heard with the position on the display screen where the person is projected, the voice of the person in the center can be heard from the center and the voice of the person in the lower left can be heard from the lower left. . Therefore, the usability can be greatly improved when a large number of people hold a TV conference.

[0007]

1 is an internal block diagram of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an overall block diagram when the information processing apparatus is network-connected to form a video conference system. FIG. 3 shows a display screen during a video conference according to this embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining the internal operation.

A standard personal computer is shown in FIG.
Like the information processing device 1 shown in FIG.
The central processing unit 2 has a network interface for connecting to the network 21 via the bus 3, in addition to the main memory device 4, the auxiliary memory device 5, the non-volatile memory 6 storing the boot program, the keyboard 7 and the display controller 8. 9. Parallel interface 10 and serial interface 11 for connecting a printer, modem, etc.
Etc. are connected to. The information processing apparatus 1 according to the present invention is
In addition to the above, a video capture circuit 13 for capturing an image from the video camera 12 and an audio circuit 14 for outputting and capturing audio are connected to the bus 3. There are L and R audio output channels, which are connected to the individual speakers 16 and 17 through the amplifier 15. A stereo sound source can be used for the sound circuit 14 to output stereophonic sound. Further, the output of the microphone 18 is connected to the audio circuit 14 via the amplifier 19, and audio can be captured.

As shown in FIG. 2, the information processing apparatus 1 is mutually connected to other information processing apparatuses 22 and 23 according to the present embodiment, which are installed at distant places through a network 21, and a server 24. If this network configuration has a transfer rate sufficient to send data-compressed image and audio data, it is possible to use an ordinary network that is generally popular.

When conducting a video conference with a plurality of people, FIG.
The screen 25 has a plurality of areas 26 corresponding to the number of opponents,
It is divided into 27, 28, and 29, and the image sent from the other party is displayed in each area. Although the case where the number of the parties to the conference is four is taken as an example here, it is also possible to hold the conference with one to one or more than five parties.

Next, the operation of the video conference according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 4. In FIG. 2, a user in front of the information processing device 1 is a person in front of the information processing devices 22 and 23 installed in a distant place, or an information processing installed in another place where the network 21 can communicate. Suppose you are in a video conference with someone in front of the device. The user's figure and voice are captured as digital signals by the video camera 12 and the microphone 18 incorporated in the information processing apparatus 1, and converted into digital image information and audio information by the video capture circuit 13 and the audio circuit 14 of FIG. 1, respectively. To be done. This information is sent to the network 21 via the network interface 9.
Sent to. A person in front of the information processing device 22 or 23 or another person participating in the video conference receives the figure and voice of one user via the network 21, and returns to an image and a sound by each information processing device. . On the contrary, from the participants of the video conference other than 1, the respective figures and voices reach the information processing apparatus 1 via the network 21. The communication control unit 30 shown in FIG. 4, which communicates with the network inside the device 1, is normally stored in the main storage device 4 as a program for controlling the network interface 9 of FIG. To be executed. In order to exchange information with 22, 23 and other plural devices, the communication control unit 30 must manage which device on the network 21 the received information is from. Here, the management status is shown in the form of the communication destination list 33 for easy understanding. Here, A, B, C, and D are partners of the video conference, and in addition to this, information other than the video conference can be exchanged with the server and other devices using the network 21 at the same time. The display control unit 32 is also realized by software in the main storage device 4 and divides the image information sent from each partner of the video conference into different areas and displays them in the display device 20 as shown in FIG. Therefore, the display control unit 32 also individually manages the information of the conference partner. It is necessary that at least the display position information 35 in the screen 25 shown in FIG. Here, the figure of the person A is displayed in the upper left area as shown in FIG. Similarly, the voice control unit 31 of FIG. 4, which is realized by software, can receive the voice information from where the voice information is received, as long as the voice information transmitted from the other party of the conference is simply converted into sound and output. You don't have to know what. It is possible to hear the voice of the other party by mixing the respective voice information and then returning to the voice. In this embodiment, the voice control unit 3
List 34 that clearly manages the sender of information even in 1.
have. The voice control unit 31 refers to the display position information 35 in the display control unit 32 before converting the digital voice information back to voice and outputting the voice, where on the screen 25 the sender of each voice is displayed. Find out. And, for example, the voice of a person projected on the left side, such as person A, is
The left-right balance of the volume is changed so that the left speaker 16 can hear it louder. In the example of FIG. 4, the voices of the person A and the person C displayed on the left side of the screen 25 are output so as to be heard loud from the left with a balance of 10: 2, but the voices of the person B and the person displayed on the right side are displayed. The voice of D is output so that it can be heard louder from the right at 10 on the right than at 2 on the left. When the user of the device 1 exchanges the display positions of the person C and the person B during the meeting, the voice control unit 31 next causes the display position information 35 to be displayed.
Since the person C and the person B are changed, the right and left ratios of the volume written in the voice level table 34 are corrected, the voices of the person A and the person B are increased from the left, and the person C and the person D are changed. Is output from the left. The volume ratio of each voice does not have to be 10: 2. For example, the voice of the person projected on the left is output only from the left speaker, and the voice of the person projected on the right is output only from the right speaker. You may.

When the screen is further divided, for example, 3 ×
When splitting into three and having a video conference with nine people, the sounds of the three people in the middle row may be output from the left and right speakers at the same volume. When the number of divisions of the screen is further increased, the sound volume of the person's sound projected at a certain position may be determined according to the ratio of the projected position from the left and right.

In the above-described embodiment, the information processing apparatus having two speakers has been described. However, it has three types of audio channels and each speaker has two speakers located on the upper left and right sides and a speaker located on the lower center. Of 3
It is more effective if it is configured to output from one. That is, the above-mentioned volume ratio is also applied to the upper and lower positions projected, the voice of the person projected in the upper left is heard loud from the upper left, and the voice of the person projected near the center of the screen 25 is different. Output from the speaker at the same volume level.

Here, it has been explained that the volume ratio is changed according to the position, but in order to make the voice audible from the left, not only is the volume output from the left speaker larger, but also the volume from the right speaker is output. The output may have a phase delay.

[0015]

[Effect of the Invention] When conducting a video conference with a plurality of parties,
By correlating the displayed position of the other party with the direction in which the voice is heard strongly, it becomes easy to understand which voice is associated with which image.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of an information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a network configuration diagram of a video conference system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a screen display of the video conference system according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram for explaining the operation of the information processing apparatus according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Information processing apparatus, 8 ... Display interface, 9 ... Network interface, 14 ... Audio interface, 16, 17 ... Audio output apparatus, 21 ... Network, 34 ... Volume level table, 35 ... Image display position information table.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An information processing device capable of exchanging data in real time with a plurality of other information processing devices, and simultaneously displaying images sent from the plurality of information processing devices capable of exchanging data at the same time. It also has a display control unit and a display screen for, and also has a sound source interface that returns a digital signal having voice data sent from another information processing device in a connected state capable of exchanging data to voice and outputs it. In an information processing apparatus having a plurality of channels for outputting, the display control unit displays the image data sent from the other information processing apparatus in a connection state capable of exchanging data at any position on the display screen. When the audio data sent from the same information processing device as the image data is reproduced as sound, A sound source interface is connected so that the display position of the recorded image data can be referred to by the display position control means, and the sound data sent from the plurality of information processing devices can have different volumes or delays for each sender and for each sound output channel. An information processing apparatus having a sender management table that can be output by.