Television – Two-way video and voice communication – User positioning
Reexamination Certificate
1995-11-17
2001-04-17
Britton, Howard (Department: 2613)
Television
Two-way video and voice communication
User positioning
C348S014160, C348S014160
Reexamination Certificate
active
06219086
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a terminal apparatus capable of suitably operating by transmitting at least video and audio data to hold a TV conference.
2. Description of the Related Art
An apparatus such as that shown in
FIG. 1
is known as a conventional terminal of a TV conference system. As shown in
FIG. 1
, the terminal apparatus has a TV camera
10
for taking pictures of conference participants, a monitor
11
for displaying images of conference participants, materials used for conference and the like, a TV camera
12
for taking pictures of materials
14
such as drawings and originals on a material table
13
, a video control section
15
for encoding and decoding video signals, a microphone
16
, a speaker
17
, an audio control section
18
for encoding and decoding audio signals, i.e., a signal supplied from the microphone
16
and a signal supplied to the speaker
17
, a communication control section
19
for transmitting and receiving audio and video signals, an operating section
20
for operating the system, and a system control section
21
for control of the entire system.
A plurality of terminals each having this configuration are connected to each other through a communication circuit (not shown) such as a Local Area Network or a public telephone system and are used to hold a TV conference by transmitting and receiving video and audio signals.
FIG. 2
illustrates an example of a display on the monitor
11
when a TV conference is held. As illustrated, a picture
30
on the monitor
11
is formed of a conference room display window
31
in which a scene of a conference room in which another terminal is placed is displayed, a conference material display window
32
in which conference materials are displayed, a common board window
33
which is used for cooperative work and in which drawings, sentences or the like can be written from all conference rooms, and a personal work window
34
for doing personal work in each individual conference room.
In the conventional TV conference system arranged as described above, a picture of the entire conference room is taken by TV camera
10
. Therefore, images of individual participants as displayed are so small that facial expressions of the speakers may be obscure. As a result, it is difficult for each of participants in a conference to grasp the ambiance of the conference.
FIG. 3
shows an example of another display on the monitor when a TV conference is held. A picture
35
on the monitor
11
in this example is generally the same as the above-described picture
30
, but differs from the picture
30
in that the conference room display window
31
is replaced with a participant display window
36
for displaying conference participants at each of terminals connected through the communication circuit. Video images of the participants are always displayed in the participant display window
36
.
In the example shown in
FIG. 3
, participants can grasp the ambiance of the conference. However, the amount of communication data exchanged between terminals is very large because information of a plurality of video images of conference participants is always being transmitted and received and the images displayed on the participant display window
36
. Thus, the processing load imposed upon each terminal is large.
Also in the conventional TV conference system, audio signals input from microphones
16
are always transmitted and received. The amount of communication data between terminals is further increased thereby, so that the processing load upon each terminal is considerable. Further, even when no conference participants are speaking, any noise generated around each terminal is input through microphone
16
and transmitted to the other terminals. Such noise acts as a hindrance to the conference.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of these circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a terminal apparatus which enables participants in a TV conference to grasp the ambiance of the conference without operating a TV camera each time the speaker changes and without increasing the amount of communication data between terminals so that the processing load imposed upon each terminal is large.
To achieve this object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a terminal apparatus capable of holding a TV conference by communicating at least images and speeches comprising a camera for taking a picture of participants in a TV conference to obtain video information, a plurality of audio input means for inputting audio information of each participant in the TV conference, and control means for controlling a zooming state of the camera according to an audio input condition of the plurality of audio input means.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a terminal apparatus comprising video input means for inputting video information, audio input means for inputting audio information related to the video information, and audio transmission means for transmitting the video information according to an audio input condition of the audio input means.
According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a terminal apparatus comprising audio input means for inputting audio information, and audio transmission means for transmitting audio information to an external terminal according to an audio input condition of the audio input means.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4961211 (1990-10-01), Tsugane
patent: 5347306 (1994-09-01), Nitta
patent: 5479203 (1995-12-01), Kawai et al.
patent: 5495285 (1996-02-01), Fujioka
patent: 5585839 (1996-12-01), Ishida
patent: 5638114 (1997-06-01), Hatanaka et al.
patent: 5675374 (1997-10-01), Kohda
patent: 5745161 (1998-04-01), Ito
patent: 5850250 (1998-12-01), Konopka
Britton Howard
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha
Fitzpatrick ,Cella, Harper & Scinto
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